IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (3) 2011 The Morphology and Palynology Study of Dionysia odora Fenzl. (Primulaceae) in Iraqi-Kurdistan R.H.M.Salih ,S. A. Ahmad Departme nt of Field Crop , College of Agriculture, University of Sulaimani Received in : 5 April 2011 Accepte d in: 16 June 2011 Abstract The p resent research deals with the sp ecies Dionysia odora Fenzl. (sy noname:Dionysia michauxii) it covers all its att ributed and detailed. The plants are studied in the college of A griculture/University of Sulaimaniya Herbar ium. The Paly nology , Ecology was given also. The sp ecimens of the plant collected and identified by Saman Abdulrahmad Ahmad. Key words: Kurdist an, Primulaceae, Dionysia, taxonomy, Piramagrun M ountain. Introductions The Primulaceae family comp rises p redominantly of herbs confined mainly to the Nort h temp erate regions of the old world and concentrated in the Himalay a, the Caucasus and the mountains of Europe, including som e f avorite garden p lants and wildflowers. It is also known as t he p rimrose family , [1]. The family contains 22 genera and 1000 sp ecies, o ccurring mainly in temp erate and mountainous regions of t he northern hemisp here, [2]. Accounts of the family have already been dealt with in various regional works. For instance [3] wrot e an account of the family for the Flora Orientalis region; [4] dealt with the various genera of the family for Europe. [5] trated the sp ecies occurring in Turkey. Similarly [6] wrot e an account of the family for Liby a; [7] d ealt with the p rimulaceous taxa of U.S.S.R. and [8] for M alesia etc.[9] and later [10] monographed the family on a worldwide basis. Twenty-two genera and ca. 1000 sp ecies; mainly in temp erate and mountainous regions of the northern hemisp here; twelve genera and 528 sp ecies (373 end emic) are widely distributed throughout China, but are represented mostly in the S and W regions, [2]. The genus Dionysia Fenzl is a typically Irano-Turanian genus almost restricted to the rather dry mountains of the Flora Iranica area, from SE Anatolia and W Iran to Tadzhikistan and Afghanist an. M ost sp ecies are cushion for min g chasmophytes – in sp ring comp letely smothered in y ellow, p urp le, violet or p ink flowers – but some are more lax and “Primula lookin g”. So me sp ecies are very choosy about their habitat and only grow below overhangs, whereas other sp ecies can be found also on slightly slop ing rocks. In sp ite of being difficult to grow, a large number of sp ecies are cultivated by devoted sp ecialist s or in botanical gardens, [11]. When [12] revised the genus Dionysia, h e recogn ized 28 sp ecies, but added several more in later p ublications. 41sp ecies were known to science when [13] p ublished his se mi-p op ular account “ The genus Dionysia”, in whi ch all sp ecies are descr ibed and illustrations IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (3) 2011 (includin g several color p hotographs) and distribution maps are provided.Five new sp ecies of Dionysia are described in Iran Zagros M ts. were (D. v iva, D. zschummelii, D. crista-galli, D. zetterlundii and D. tacamahaca) from the Zagros M ountains of W Iran. One subspecies (D. sarvestanica subsp. spatulata), one variety (D. gaubae var.macrantha) and two sections (D. sect. Zoroasteranthos and D. sect. Mucida) are also described as new [11]. Dionysia was first reco gnized as a genus by [14], based on material of D. odora (D. sintenisii) collected by Kotschy in Kurdistan. This, however, was not the first Dionysia known to science. Already in 1817 Lehmann h ad described Primula aretioides on material collected from Nort h Iran in 1770, but only in 1846 Boissier formally transferred it to Dionysia, at t he same time described three new sp ecies, [14]. In t he meantime [9] h ad treated the Primulaceae for C andolle’s Prodromus, in which h e included the Dionysia sp ecies in Gregoria, a sy nony m of Douglasia, a rather remotely related genus.[15] p ublished an account of Dionysia, recognizin g it as a genus sep arate from Primula, as did [3]. [15] mer ged Dionysia into Primula as a section. [16] treated Dionysia for Engler’s Pflanzenreich, reco gnizin g 20 sp ecies. It is p resent in Wild p lants in Iraq the genus Dionysia has on e sp ecies in Iraq and it is D.odora [17] and [18], while in the Geo graphical Distribution of Wild Vascular Pl ant of Iraq mensioned two sp ecies of t he genus and they are D.bormuiieri Pa x. and D.odora [19]. It was mentioned in both references above the sy nony m of the sp ecies D.odora is D.aucheri (DC) Boiss. Materials and Methods 1- Morphol ogical study: The material of the current st udy are based on 9 samp les collected from the research area they are collected at sp ring of 2009 by (Saman Abdulrah man). The sp ecimens were dried and p rep ared as herbarium sp ecimen to deposit in SUAH, the notes are written on the label includin g sc ientific name, family name, dates of collecting, name of collector, altitude, Latitude and Lon gitude and flower ing date were selected. All parts of p lant morp hological were st udied in the labor atory under dissecting microscope (M otic). The habitat information was obt ained from the field st udies. T he locality information with the coordinates and the coexisting p lants were given as well. 2- Palynological Study: Pollen material of the p lant were examined by a light comp ound microscope. The p ollen samples were removed fro m the anthers of flowers of collected sp ecimens, and p ut on the slide after that the p ollen grains were acetoly sed after the method of [20] and mounted in glycerine jelly st ained with safranin, and the equatorial and p olar view were measured for 25 grains. Results and Discussions 1- Morphol ogical Descriptions: Herbs p erennial, rarely suffrut icose, with glandular and eglandular h airs, p lant 9-16 cm height . Plant has erect, smooth, woody st eam. 60-140 mm len gth 4-7 mm width, dark-brown in color, branching st arted from the base of st eam, inter node length 9-13mm and nod width 3-7mm. Leaves whorled, in basal rosettes, often all basal, simple, st ipules absent; blade obovate, light-green color, blade mar gins entire or denticulate, basal leaves 5-lobed at t he top and the IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (3) 2011 upp er leaves 3-lobed at t he top , 3-4 mm long 1.5-2 mm width. It is covered in both sides with long glandular hairs. (Fi g 1). Bracts foliaceous, 1.2-2 mm long 0.6-0.9 mm width, gr een in color. Flowers solitary , sessile, perfect, 5-merous. p erianth and androecium hyp ogy nous. Caly x tubular, sep als 5, connate into tube at the base, campanulate, deep ly divided into oblanceo late sep als, acute, entire, apex mar gin with glandular h airs, light-gr een color, 3.5×1.5 mm. Sep als 3.5×0.8 mm. (Fi g 1) Corolla hy p ocrateriform, with a slender tube widenin g at insertion of stamens, corolla 24-28 mm long, gamopetalous, actinomorp hic, covered with glandular hairs, y ellow, corolla tube 20-22 mm, 5 lobes, 4 – 4.5 × 1.8 – 2 mm, lobes entire. (Fi g 1,2). Stamens 5, included in corolla tube, opp osite with corolla lobes, epipetalous, distinct, 13.5-15 mm. Ant hers y ellow, op ening by longitudinal slits, 1.8×0.3 mm. Filaments att ached near the throat of corolla, 13.2 ×0.2 mm, light-y ellow in color. (Fig 1,2). Sty les 1, terminal, 22-24 × 0.1-0.2 mm, slightly exserted from corolla tube. Stigma 1, cap itate. Ovary sup erior, 1-1.5 × 0.6-0.8 mm, obovate, light-brown in color. (Fi g 1,2) Fruits capsular, dehiscence by 5 valves. 2- Palynological Study: Palynology p lays a significant role in p lant taxono my, and y et this field has not been used too frequently in syst ematic work. The first comp rehensive book on p aly nology was by [21]. Earlier between the y ears 1926-1934, he also wrot e several papers on various asp ects of p aly nology and later (1936) an account of t he evolutionary asp ects of the p ollen gr ains, [22]. Published h is first concise book on p ollen morphology p ertaining to various angiosp erme families. It is largely due to the p ioneering work of these two, that p ollen morphology has gained imp ortant in syst ematic work, [23]. In connection with the paly nology of the Primulaceae, there are three works which are noteworthy ; they are by [24 and 25]. The last mentioned work by Punt et al. has very good p ollen descrip tions to various taxa, obtained by light microscop y and the scanning electron microscope, but t he scop e of the work is limited to the Europ ean flora. The p ollen grains of D. odora are solitary , multicolpate, radially sy mmetrical and isop olar. M ean of equatorial axis = 18.2 µm., mean of p olar axis = 13.5 µm. were measured for 25 p ollen grain, the equatorial outline is more discoidal to ellip tical; and p olar outline is sp herical. (Fig 3) 3- Ecology S tudy: The sp ecies D.odora grow in the Pira-magrun M ountains near the p eak in the sub alpine zone that is very steep and the slope is between 80 - 90%, at spring of 2009. It is growing on limestone, usually vertically under overhanging rocks. The altitudes where most of these plants are found between 1950-2200 and Cordi.E:35 45 40, N:45 12 50. the picture of the p lant and plant habit were taken by Camera Cannon D 400 by M .Saman A.. The important Association plant are Lamium striatum, Rumex ribes, Rindera(Mattia) lanata, Euphorbia denticulata, S tachys lavandulifolia and Vio la modesta. (Fi g 2). Re ferences 1- Nasir, Y. J. (1983). A Revision Of T he Family Primulaceae From Pakistan. University of Karachi. Karachi. (Thesis). 2- Flora of China,(1996). 15: 39–189. 3- Boissier, E. (1879). Flora Orientalis. 4:4-31. 4- Valentine and Kress, A. (1972). The Genus Primula in Tut in et. al. F1. Eur. 3: 15-20. IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (3) 2011 5- Lamond, J. (1978). The genera Primula, Dion ysia and Androsace in Dav is, Fl. Turk. 6. 112-127. 6- Ali, S.I. (1976). Primulaceae in Ali and Jafri Fl. Libya No. 1: 1-15. 7- Federov, An. (1952). The gener a Primula and Cortusa in Bobrov and Schisck in Fl. UR SS. 18: 111-202; 242-249. 8- Bentvelzen, P.A.J. (1962). Primulaceae in Van Steen is et. al., Fl. M ales. 1 (6): 173-192. 9- Duby , J. (1844), Primulaceae. – Pp . 33-74 in: Candolle, A. P. de (ed.), Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis 8. – Paris, etc. 10- Lidén, M . The genus Dionysia (Primulaceae), a sy nop sis and five new sp ecies. – Willd enowia. 37: 37-61. – ISSN 0511-9618; © (2007). BGBM Berlin-Dahlem. doi:10.3372/wi.37.37102 ( available via http://dx.do i.org/) M agnus Lidén, Up p sala University Botanic Garden,Villavägen 8,75236 Upp sala, Sweden; e-mail: M agnus.Liden@botan.uu.se. 11- Wendelbo, P. (1961)a, Studies in Primulaceae I. A monogr aph of the genus Dionysia. – Aarbok. Univ. Bergen, M at.-Naturvitensk. Ser. (3). 12- Grey -Wilson, C. (1989) The genus Diony sia. – Woking. 13- Fenzl, E. (1843), Plantarum generu m et sp ecierum novarum decas p rima. – Flora 26: 389-404. 14- Bunge, A. (1871), Die Art en der Gattung Dionysia Fenzl.-Bull.Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint- Pétersbourg 16: 547-563. 15- Kuntze, O. (1891), Revisio generum p lantarum 2. – Leip zig, etc. 16- Knut h, R. (1905),Dionysia. – Pp . 160-168 in: Engler, A. (ed.), Das Pflanzenreich 22. – Leipzig. 17- Al-Rawi, A. (1964). Wild Plant of Iraq with their Dist ribution. M in. of Agr. And Irridation – National Herb. Of Iraq, Bagh. P. 43,47,51. 18- Al-M ashhadani, A.N.; Ahmmad, S.A. and M uhammad, R.H., (2009). List of Sulaiman i Dist rict Vegetation. University of Sulaimani. Co llege of A gricu lture-Dep artment of Field Crop s. (Unp ublished). 19- Ridda, T.J. and Daood, W.H. (1982). Geographical Dist ribution of Wild Vascular Plant of Iraq. Nat. Herb. Of Iraq, Un Publ. 44-49. 20- Erdtman, (1966). Pollen M orp hology and Plant Taxonomy. reprinted. Angiosp erms. Stockholm. 553. 21- Wodehouse, R.P.(1935). Pollen grains. T heir Structure, Identification and Sign ifican ce in science and medicine. New York and London. 22- Erdtman, (1952). Pollen M orp hology and Plant Taxonomy. Angiosp erms. Stockholm. 23- Rabeler, R ichard K. and Hartman, Ron ald L. (2007). Flora of Nort h America. (From Internet). 24- Sp anowsky , W. (1962). Die bedeutung der p ollenmorp hologie fur die Taxono mie d er Primulaceae-Pri muloideae. Fedded Rep ert 65: 149-215. IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (3) 2011 25- Punt , W.; Weenan, J. ;de Leeuw and Oostrum, W.A.P. van. (1974). Primulaceae in Jannssen, Punt and Reitsma editors. The N.W. Eur. Pollen flora 3, Rev. of Palebotany and p aly nology , 17 (3/4): 31-70. Lower Upp er Bract Ieaves Ieav es 1 4 .5 c m Caly x Fig (2): The Morphol ogical Character for Di onysia odora plant parts. 3 .5 c m 6 c m Op en Corolla Closed Corolla Pist il Stamen Glandular Hairs IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (3) 2011 Fig. (2): The D.odora plant i n its Natural Habit. IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (3) 2011 Equatorial view Polar view Fig. (3): Pollen grain 3 9 5 0 c m 2011) 3( 24المجلد ة مجلة ابن الهیثم للعلوم الصرفة والتطبیقی .Dionysia odora Fenzlدراسة المظهر الخارجي وحبوب اللقاح للنوع Primulaceae) ( العراق-في كوردستان روبار حسین محمد صالح، سامان عبدالرحمن أحمد قسم محاصیل الحقلیة، كلیة الزراعة، جامعة السلیمانیة 2011نیسان 5:استلم البحث في 2011حزیران 16:قبل البحث في الخالصة ة أجریت. یقوذلك بعرض صفاته المورفولوجیة بشكل مفصل ودق D. odoraیهتم البحث الحالي بدراسة النوع الدراس تجمع. أیضآ حبوب اللقاح، والبیئة التي یعیش فیها النباتل. جامعة السلیمانیة/في معشب كلیة الزراعة ت النماذج وشخص .سامان عبدالرحمن أحمد مننباتات النوع Kurdist : الكلمات المفتاحیة an, Primulaceae, Dion ysia, taxono my, Piramagrun M ountain.