Evaluation of Biodiversity among some of the Salvia L. species in Iran

Salvia L. genus is one of the most important medicinal plants of Lamiaceae [1]. In this context, the purpose of the present study was to display the biodiversity among six species as S. Reuterana Boiss., S. macrosiphon Boiss., S. Moorcroftiana Wall. ex Benth., S. Sharifii Rech. f. ex Esfand., S. multicaulis Vahl., S. hydrangea Dc., and 62 accessions of Salvia collected from natural habitats of Iran using 46 quantitative morphological characters as vegetative and reproductive, and molecular markers as Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism.

Coefficient of Variation in morphological data	C.V. max. and min. in morphological Data	Genetic Variation	Genetic Distance (Nei) in species	Genetic Similarity (Jaccard) in species
Between species=130.1	Max=135, the length of hair in petiole, S. Reu.	Between species=63.3	D max=0.3, S. Shar., S. mult.	Sj max=0.75, S. Reu., S. mac.
Between accessions=85.35	Min=45.6, length of calyx, S. hyd.	Between accessions=46.47	D min=0.024, S. Reu., S. mac	Sj min=0.05, S. hyd., S. Moor.

Regarding our molecular data, a total 12 primers used generated 440 bands of which 80% percent (PIC=0.80) were polymorphic in Salvia species. The genetic variations of the species were higher than the accessions, confirming the morphological analysis [2]. In addition, high phenotypic and genotypic diversity might have arisen due to adaptation, segregation and recombination. Concerning the variability detected between Salvia taxa in Iran it can be concluded that there would be a high gene flow and diversity among Salvia species.

References: [1] Walker, J.B. et al. (2004) Am. J. Bot. 91:115–1125.

[2] Reals, A. et al. (2004) Bot. J. Linn. Soc.145:353–371.