There is no easy way to identify to species, a small, vegetative leaf or culm sample of a grass and there are more than 12,000 species in this large, important family. The long-range aim of our study is to produce a standard DNA barcode library available to the public for all grasses (±1960 species) in North America (includes all Canada, Mexico and USA) that will facilitate the easy identificat...

The genus Onosma is a homogeneous taxon with high morphological variation and due to the similarities among taxa, there are many problems in their identification. Hence, systematically taxonomically, it considered difficult genus. In present study, we included large number of species throughout distribution range. Using nuclear (ITS) two plastids (rpl32-trnL(UAG) trnH-psbA) markers, analyzed ev...

The utility of DNA barcoding for identifying representative specimens of the circumpolar tree genus Fraxinus (56 species) was investigated. We examined the genetic variability of several loci suggested in chloroplast DNA barcode protocols such as matK, rpoB, rpoC1 and trnH-psbA in a large worldwide sample of Fraxinus species. The chloroplast intergenic spacer rpl32-trnL was further assessed in ...

Although the chloroplast genome contains many noncoding regions, relatively few have been exploited for interspecific phylogenetic and intraspecific phylogeographic studies. In our recent evaluation of the phylogenetic utility of 21 noncoding chloroplast regions, we found the most widely used noncoding regions are among the least variable, but the more variable regions have rarely been employed...

Variability within eight cpDNA introns including trnS-trnfM, trnL-trnT, trnH-psbA, trnF-trnL, trnD-trnT, trnCrpoB, rps16 and matK, and the nuclear waxy introns was examined in seven species of Capsicum (C. annuum, C. baccatum, C. chinense, C. frutescens, C. pubescens, C. chacoense and C. rhomboideum) in order to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing these loci for DNA barcoding within the C. an...

The subtribe Eritrichiinae belongs to tribe Rochelieae (Borginaceae; Cynoglossoideae) which is composed of about 200 species in five genera including Eritrichium, Lappula, Hackelia, Lepechiniella, and Rochelia. The majority of the species are annual and grow in xeric habitats. The genus Lappula as an arid adapted and the second biggest genus...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The geographic distribution of the genus Plectocephalus comprises a single species in Ethiopia, two in North America and possibly four more in South America, in a striking disjunction that is exceptional for genera of the tribe Cardueae. The enormity of this disjunction cast doubts on the precise taxonomic delineation of the genus, which is not unanimously recognized as a na...

BACKGROUND The recently proposed recircumscription of the genus Atraphaxis (incl. Atraphaxis section Ovczinnikovia O.V. Yurtseva ex. S. Tavakkoli and Polygonum sect. Spinescentia Boissier (=A. sect. Polygonoides S. Tavakkoli, Kaz. Osaloo & Mozaff.) makes this genus fairly heterogeneous and therefore almost undefinable based on morphology. A critical comprehensive reappraisal of the group is nec...