A contribution to the specification of Caesalpinioideae (L) based on morphological and molecular criteria

The present study included the investigation of both morphological attributes of some taxa of Caesalpinioideae viz. whole plant, leaf architecture & epidermal characteristics (LM & SEM) and certain molecular attributes (RAPD & Isozymes) to clarify the diversity and the diagnostic importance of these characters. The sum of both character states of morphological and molecular criteria (326 attributes & 353 bands) respectively of total (679 attributes) of the investigated taxa were subjected to a numerical analysis using NTsys-pc program (version 2.02). The resulted dendrogram interpreted the similarities and dissimilarities between the investigated taxa. The specific relationships were discussed and compared with some of the current systems of classification. The aim of the present study is tried to find the interspecific relationships of the studied taxa through the investigation of their morphological and molecular characters in addition to a numerical evaluation of such characters. Among the reached concluding remarks, The dendrogram resulted from morphological and molecular attributes supported the separation of Cassia and Senna as two taxonomic entities.