Morphology and Anatomy of Scrophularia L. 
Taxa From NE Anatolia

Serdal Makbul1*, Kamil Coşkunçelebi2, Zafer Türkmen3, 
and Osman Beyazoğlu2

1Department of Biology, 3Faculty of Fisheries, 
Karadeniz Technical University, 53100, Rize, Turkey
2Department of Biology, Karadeniz Technical University, 
61080, Trabzon, Turkey

*e-mail: makbul@ktu.edu.tr

Received October 25, 2005; revision accepted January 20, 2006

This study uses numerical methods to describe, illustrate and assess the taxonomic significance of morphological and anatomical features of Scrophularia ilwensis C. Koch, S. capillaris Boiss. & Ball., S. nodosa L., S. libanotica Boiss. var. pontica R. Mill, S. lucida L. and S. cinerascens Boiss. collected from NE Anatolia. Features related to peculiarities of the leaf, bracteole, alar pedicel and corolla were found to be important in separating the taxa morphologically, but principal component analysis of all characters showed some anatomical characters (mean number of the epidermis, stomata, diameter of vascular bundle and scleranchymatic sheath) to be more important than morphological ones in explaining the variation between the examined taxa. 

Key words: Scrophularia, anatomy, idioblast, numerical analysis.