RESUMO
Background: Exploring the morphological traits of historical Cannabis populations from the Maghreb can provide invaluable information about the characteristics of the Maghreb Landrace Kif and contribute to the preservation of this vulnerable Cannabis resource. Aim: The purpose of the present study was to analyze the morphological characteristics of Cannabis specimens collected before worldwide introgressive hybridization and summarize the morphological traits of the Maghreb Landrace Kif. Discussion: Despite the limited number of specimens collected in the Maghreb, this study identified distinct types of Cannabis in the herbaria, including the Maghreb Landrace Kif, European hemp, and potentially East Asian hemp. By examining the morphological traits of kif specimens and reviewing the relevant literature, the study identifies the morphological traits that tend to characterize Maghreb Landrace Kif. Morphologically, Kif is different from drug-type Cannabis indica ("Sativa" and "Indica"). It resembles European hemp Cannabis sativa, but has female inflorescence characteristics that allow it to be distinguished from the latter, even when the growing conditions are optimal. These are the density of pistillate inflorescences (perigonal bract-to-leaf index), and the capitate stalked glandular trichomes cover density on the perigonal bracts. Conclusion: The characteristics of pistillate inflorescences identified in this study can be used to distinguish and select plants before phytochemical and genetic analysis, thus facilitating the identification of the Maghreb Landrace Kif.
RESUMO
Rumex is one of about 50 genera in the knotweed family, Polygonaceae. The genus comprises about 200 species with bisexual, or more commonly, unisexual flowers, with the species displaying monoecious, dioecious, synoecious (hermaphroditic) or polygamous reproductive systems. Some of the dioecious species have heteromorphic sex chromosomes, which is rare amongst angiosperms. We here present a plastid phylogeny of 67 species, representing all four subgenera. For this study, we used three chloroplast markers, rbcL, trnH-psbA, trnL-F and dense taxon sampling to reconstruct the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Rumex to date. The reconstructed phylogeny for this work resolves six major clades and one large grade in Rumexsubg.Rumex. In addition, the species with known dioecious reproductive systems are resolved within a broader clade we term "the dioecious clade". These results suggest that the species with divergent reproductive systems are more closely related to each other than to other species comprising the rest of the Rumex genus.