Morphological variability of Juniperus phoenicea (Cupressaceae) from three distant localities on Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

<p>The aim of the present study was biometrical comparison of three Iberian populations of <em>Juniperus phoenicea</em>, represented by the subsp. <em>turbinata </em>and subsp. <em>phoenicea</em>. Eight features of the cones and seeds, two of the shoots and leaves were studied.</p><p>The biometrical analysis of three distant populations of <em>J. phoenicea </em>shows great taxonomic distances among them. Two of them, representatives of <em>J. phoenicea</em> subsp. <em>turbinata</em>, are closer related each other than to the third, which represents <em>J. phoenicea</em> subsp. <em>phoenicea</em>. These results confirm the genetic differentiation of the taxons and also the biochemical and morphologic division of them. Nevertheless, the distances between particular populations are so great that more resemble the distances between species than between subspecies.</p>