Species identification is fundamentally important within the fields of biology, biogeography, ecology and conservation. Erodium Aiton (Geraniaceae) with 75 species is distributed in all continents except Antarctic. Its main diversification center is Mediterranean region with 62 species. There are 15 annual and perennial Erodium species in Iran. In spite vast distribution of many Erodium species that grow in Iran, there are no available reports on their genetic diversity, mode of divergence and patterns of dispersal. Therefore, we performed molecular (SCoT markers) and morphological studies of 154 accessions from 10 species of Erodium that were collected from different habitats in Iran. AMOVA test provide important genetic variation among the examined populations and showed that, 65 of the overall genetic difference was due to within population diversity, while 35 is because genetic population variability. The aims of present study are: (1) can SCoT markers identify Erodium species, (2) what is the genetic structure of these taxa in Iran, and (3) to investigate the species inter-relationship? The present study revealed that combination of morphological and SCoT markers can identify the species.
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