Variation and relationships of morphological traits, shoot yields and essential oil contents of four Anthemis species

Anthemis L. is a genus of aromatic flowering plants in the family Asteraceae and is native to Iran. In this research, 62 accessions of four chamomile species including Anthemis tinctoria, A. triumfetti, A. haussknechtii and A. pseudocotula were evaluated for morphological traits. Four experiments were conducted using a randomized complete block design with three replications at the Research Institute of Forest and Rangeland, Tehran, Iran in 2011. Data were collected for the morphological traits for all of the species and essential oil content for A. triumfetti and A. pseudocotula. The results showed that plant height was positively correlated with canopy area for all of the species except A. triumfetti (p < 0.01). There were positive correlations between flower number with plant height and canopy area in both A. tinctoria and A. haussknechtii (p < 0.01). Fresh and dry weight were positively correlated with canopy area and plant height in all of the species (p < 0.01), except A. tinctoria for canopy area and A. triumfetti for plant height. GDD had a positive correlation with canopy area for A. triumfetti (p < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between essential oil yield and plant height, fresh and dry weight in A. triumfetti and A. pseudocotula (p < 0.05). Using cluster analysis (Ward method), the accessions of A. triumfetti, A. tinctoria, A. haussknechtii and A. pseudocotula were grouped into 3, 2, 4 and 2 clusters, respectively. The results of cluster analysis separated the accession based on shoot yield, morphological traits and maturity. In some items, the accessions within each cluster were coordinated with their geographical provenance.