Morphological variation in natural populations of Lotus corniculatus in association to geographical parameters of collecting sites
2010
Drobná, Jarmila
Phenotypic variation and association between morphologic traits and geographic characteristics (latitude, longitude and elevation) were investigated for fifteen wild birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) populations collected from diverse natural stands in Slovakia. Considerable variation between populations was observed for morphological characteristics. According to principal component analysis, the attributes that appeared to be the major sources of diversity between these populations were growth habit, number of internodes, stem length, stem thickness, number of stems per plant and leaf length. The populations were classified into five morphologic cluster groups, corresponding to collecting sites with similar geographic characteristics. This study showed that most populations from locations with lower elevation tended to produce semi-prostrate plants with high number of long stems and with later flowering. The number of stems, number of internodes and stem length increased as the population collecting-site location moved west and south. The results may be useful for planning more effective collection and utilization of several wild populations.
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