SEED MORPHOLOGY OF CYTISOPHYLLUM, CYTISUS, CHAMAECYTISUS AND GENISTA (FABACEAE, GENISTEAE) SPECIES FOR CHARACTERIZATION

The genera Cytisophyllum, Cytisus, Chamaecytisus and Genista (Fabaceae : Genisteae) include some mediterranean and south to central european species, with potential interest for arid and degraded ecosystems in t he mediterranean region. They can be useful for soil revegetation and conservation as well as sources of forage for grazing animals. We have carried out a morphometric study with 43 populations belonging to 22 species of the mentioned genera. The study consisted of seed measureme nts (maximum projected area including the aril, form factor of such ar ea, seed length including the aril, seed width, aril length, aril widt h, seed tickness and 100 seeds weight), and one qualitative character, testa colour. The aim was to find out if seed morphology is adequated for characterization and if it can help to clarify the taxonomic stat us of the group, that is considered as confused and contradictory. A m ultivariate analysis both by clustering and grouping methods was carri ed out. The most important findings are as follows. The selected seed characters are adequate for characterization at the generic level. The characters responsible for maximum separation were the seed length, t he maximum projected area, the colour and the width of the aril. The r esults support the genera agrupation established by Bisby, 1981, based in other morphological and biochemical studies.