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Pedicularis L. (Orobanchaceae) is a large hemiparasitic genus, distributed mostly over boreal and arctic-alpine regions of the northern hemisphere. In the present study 9 species of the genus that are reported in flora of Iran, were undertaken for stigma morphological study and numerical analysis. The stigmatic surface is even in P. pycnantha and P. wilhelmsiana, is expanded into a subspherical shape in P. cabulica, P. caucasica, P. rechingeri, P. sibthorpii, P. condensata and P. strausii and is conical form in P. rhinanthoides. To determine the relationship between species, numerical analysis was carried out using 45 quantitative and qualitative morphological, anatomical and palynological characters. UPGMA and PCA dendrograms were drawn. According to the results some characters such as the thickness of  pericarp, the thickness of  spongy parenchyma, the length of  stem, the thickness of bark, the thickness of  stem and the length of midrib are the most variable, and can be used for identification and determination of relationship between species.

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Gypsophila is the fourth biggest genus of Caryophyllaceae. Presence or absence of indumentum on different parts of the plant is one of the most important diagnostic characters between the species of this genus. The indumentum of 13 taxa of this genus were examined using scanning electron microscopy. All taxa had multicellular and glandular trichomes. Size of trichomes can represent as distinguishing trait between morphologically closed species. Although the most important characters in the delimitation of the sections were morphological, trichomes characters were also supportive. The indumentum was constant among different populations of each species except for two species whose glabrous specimens were described here as new varieties: Gypsophila pilosa var. glabra and Gypsophila polyclada var. leioclada

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Boujagh National Park, with water ecosystems including Boujagh and Kiashahr wetlands, has an area of approximately 3477.3 hectares. In order to study factors affecting the vegetation in aquatic and wet habitats, 44 releves were implemented in the region. To test the chemical properties of the available water, samples were collected from 22 releves. The results of a two-way species indicator analysis of the modified TWINSPAN suggested that four groups of plants were present in the region. The first group being floating, immersed and submerged and the third and fourth groups being mostly helophytic. The second group of plants grows in areas with sand and mud. The results of comparative DCA analysis of water factors (PH, Depth, P, N, Cl, CO₃, Hco₃, EC, Na, K) showed a significant correlation between the factors and plant groups and the most important factors influencing the distribution and separation of plants was found to be water depth. In addition, Boujagh and Kiashahr wetlands vegetation map, based on the plant groups, was also prepared.

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Rhamnus L. is the genus of Rhamnaceae in Iran with nearly eight species. These species are used as valuable shrubs. This research was carried out in order to investigate the anatomical leaf. Samples from nine populations of Rhamnus pallasii and Rhamnus cathartica were taken. Treatment specimen cover various habitats from north of Iran, moreover herbarium samples were taken into account. The results presented two forms of epidermal cells such as Polygonal and irregular cells in addition, waved and straight anti-clinical walls were observed in R. pallasii subsp. pallasii and R. pallasii subsp. sintensii. Two types of stomata were demonstrated like anemositic and parasitic in two main species. Some characters e.g. thrichome, parenchyma, collenchyma layers were determined to finding some similarity among treatment specimen.

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The increasing influence of APG classification system necessitates an update on taxa recorded in most regional floras including Iran. Many changes in circumscriptions of families and orders have occurred in APG in comparison with other classification systems. However, here we only attempt to emphasize on changes in the Iranian flora, especially in comparison with “Flora Iranica” and “Flora of Iran”. Of the overall 132 family names which have been mentioned here, 22 families are not found in Flora Iranica. Based on the APG IV system, 21 families which had been mentioned in Flora Iranica for Iran should be merged with other families. Accordingly, the angiosperms of Iran comprise 8012 species, approximately 1234 genera and 132 families placed in 39 orders. Gymnosperms (17 spp.), ferns (60 spp.) and mosses (534 spp.) included, the number of plant species of Iran exceeds approximately 8628 species. The largest angiosperms families of Iran are Fabaceae (1401 spp.) and Asteraceae (1234 spp.) in terms of number of species, and Asteraceae, Poaceae, Apiaceae and Fabaceae in terms of number of genera. The largest angiosperm order of Iran in terms of family number is Caryophyllales. The largest genera of Iran are Astragalus with about 830 species and Cousinia with about 280 species. In the two latest versions of APG a linear sequence of families is provided to be used by herbarium curators.

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Phylogenetic relationships among the Eumeces schneiderii princeps and Eumeces schneiderii pavimentatus investigated using 509 bp partial sequences of 16S mitochondrial gene. Analyses were done by maximum-likelihood (RAxML) criteria on 52 specimens from over 20 geographically distinct localities. Our molecular results proposed two well-supported major clades by their phylogenetic positions, genetic differences and unique characterizations in their morphology and habitats including: (1) Eumeces schneiderii princeps+ Eumeces schneiderii pavimentatus (2) Eurylepis (3) Scincus and (4) Scincopus. However, the phylogenetic affinities of Eumeces sp. in the Scincus clade were not resolved. Phylogenetic analyses of the genus did not grouped Eurylepis with Eumeces and clustered it in a completely separate group . In addition, phylogenetic resultsrevealed a monophyletic status for Eumeces schneideri

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Silene ghahremaninejadii (Caryophyllaceae) is described as a new species to science in this article based on critical differences in certain characters of both vegetative and reproductive organs, compared with its closely related taxa, i.e. S. marschallii and S. ruprechtii. The new species has compact caudex, glabrous leaves and pedicles, cylindrical calyx without indumentums on its inner surface, deeply bifid petals without coronal scales and glabrousfilaments. In addition, a hypothesis about the speciation process of the species is proposed.

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 Specimens collected from the forest areas of Mazandaran Province (Iran), Kojour, between Lashkenareh

and Gandis-Kala village showed significant characteristics. At first glance, these specimens looked similar to A. szowitsianum, but with no indumentum on fruit. Further studies showed that those specimens belong to a new species, Alyssum mazandaranicum Mirzadeh & Assadi sp. nov., which was confined to the ecotone area between Euro-Siberian and Irano -Turanian regions. More populations of this new species were also found in other localities with similar ecological circumstances. Here, the new species is described, illustrated and compared with the closest taxon.

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Two species of mosses, namely, Grimmia dissimulata and Schistidium pruinosum, belonging to the family Grimmiaceae collected from Khorassan Razavi province (NE Iran) are found new for the Iranian bryoflora. Based on the recent literature, 16 species of Grimmia and 13 species of Schistidium have been reported from Iran so far. Diagnostic characters, geographical distribution and illustrations are provided herewith.

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The pollen grains of 34 populations, representing 16 species of Consolida (DC.) Gray, have been examined by LM and SEM. The polar axis (P), equatorial diameter (E), P/E ratio and exine patterns were measured. The pollen grains were found out to be 3-zonocolpate, euprolate to subprolate. The shortest polar axis to belong to C. tehranica (Boiss.) Rech.f. and the longest to belong to C. trigonelloides (Boiss.) Munz (28.15-37.3 µm); the shortest equatorial axis to belong to C. stocksiana (Boiss.) Nevski. and the longest to C. orientalis Schrödinger (17.5-25.2 µm). Based on exine ornamentation observed under SEM, two types of pollen grains were recognized. Type I, exine distinctly thickened at poles with broad colpi and stronglymicro-echinate sculpturing, and type II, with exine obtuse at poles, narrow colpi and weekly micro-echinate sculpturing. Pictures of all species and characteristics of pollen grain structure were presented. Our results showed that pollen shape and sculpturing were diagnostic characters for distinguishing the species. Although they did not suffice enough to resolve taxonomic conflicts in the genus, our results confirmed embed of Aconitella in Consolida due to the occurrence of Aconitella species in two pollen groups.

                                                                                                                                                             

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In a revision of annual Silene species some interesting specimens were observed, which belonged to the sp-ecies that had not been previously reported in detail from Iran. In this paper S. nocturna from the section Scorpioideae was added to the checklist of the third important genus of the flora of Iran, i.e. Silene, and new localities for S. gallica from the section Lasiocalycinae were reported. The description, geographical distribution in Iran and photos of each sp-ecies were also presented

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A revision was carried out on the genus Lappula Moench (Boraginaceae) in Khorassan provinces. A total of herbarium specimens collected from different parts of the studied area, including the three provinces of North, Razavi and South Khorassan, were studied. All specimens are deposited in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Herbarium, (FUMH). According to the results of the study, there are 6 Lappula species in the region: L. barbata, L. microcarpa, L. semiglabra, L. sessiliflora, L. sinaica and L. spinocarpos. In addition, by revising the annual specimens that had been previously misidentified as L. drobovii, a perennial species, these specimens were identified as L. sessiliflora. Identification key, distribution map and species pictures in this article have been presented.

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During the study on the specimens of Astragalus sect. Ammodendron in the herbarium of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUMH), based on the last and most recent sources, two new species, i.e. A. microfoliolatus sp. nova and A. rashed-mohasseli sp. nova were found and described. Morphological evidence confirmed that the belonging of these taxa to Astragalus sect. Ammodendron. The most important differences between A. microfoliolatus and its closest relatives are leaflets with very small size and glabrescent legume. Also, the main distinctive characters ofA. rashed-mohasseli are the presence of hairs on the dorsal side of vexillum, oblong legume and short rachis. Hairy vexillum has been obseverd for the first time in this section. In addition, A. aiwadzhi is recorded as a new species for the flora of Iran. Taxonomic descriptions, illustrations and distribution maps are provided to expedite identification.
 
 

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The Palang Galoun protected region, comprising 34935 hectares, is located 75 km northwest of Najaf Abad, and 102 km northwest of Isfahan city. The aim of this research was to assess the floristic spectrum, life form varieties, chorological analysis, determination of protected status and identification of medicinal, threatened species criteria and poisonous plants of this natural heritage. Plant samples were collected during different vegetative seasons at several stages. Life forms of samples were determined and chorological analysis was performed. On the basis of the obtained results, a total of 166 species belonging to 126 genera and 39 families were identified. Six families, 23 genera and 26 species belonged to monocotyledons, whereas 33 families, 103 genera and 140 species belonged to dicotyledons. In terms of chorological analysis, 58% of plant species were distributed in the Irano-Turanian region. It is noteworthy that 44 endemic species, 97 medicinal species, 48 pasture species and 23 poisonous species were present in the studied area. Life forms were found to comprise 54% hemicryptophytes, 24% therophytes, 10% geophytes, 7% chamaephytes and 5% phanerophytes. Based on IUCN red list categories and criteria, there were 22 species in the lower risk category and seven species categorized as vulnerable case.
 

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Cousinia elymaitica, which has been collected from western Iran, is described in this paper as a new species. This new species has been assigned to the sect. Pugioniferae on the basis of its habit, purple corolla and decurrent leaves. Its closest related species is C. macroptera. A distribution map and an illustration of the related specimens have also been provided.
 

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In this study, we investigated the chromosome numbers of some endemic species distributed in East and South-East Iran. The mitotic chromosome counts were presented for the first time for six species in three angiosperm families including: Linaria iranica (2n=12), Nanorrhinum campyloceras (2n=18), Chaenorhinum grossecostatum (2n=24) (Plantaginaceae), Gaillonia bruguieri (Rubiaceae) (2n=22), Nepeta rivularis and N. assurgens (Lamiaceae) (2n=18).
 

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In this paper, the new taxa Lepidium ferganense (Brassicaceae) was recorded for the flora of Iran for the first time. This taxon belongs to Irano-Turanian region. It was compared with the closest taxa in the present study. In addition, a morphological description, several Illustrations, and a distribution map were presented.

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Scorzonera incisa, known as an endemic plant to Turkey, has been collected from West Azarbayejan Province, NW. Iran. The species is reported for the first time from the country; it is very similar to Scorzonera calyculata, which is distributed in the western half of Iran and east of Iraq. However, with regard to the particular shape of the achenes of Scorzonera incisa, this species could be separated from Scorzonera incisa. In this paper, the description, the image of the herbarium sample and the distribution map of this species are presented.