Nutlet surface micromorphology of Turkish Satureja (Lamiaceae)

Abstract

There are some taxonomic uncertainties within the Turkish members of Satureja. It is extremely difficult to distinguish some of Satureja species because of their great morphological similarity. They are represented by fifteen species in Turkey. In this study, the nutlet surface features of species were examined using both stereoscopic and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The investigated species can be divided into two main types, the more or less smooth and the sculptured, and four subtypes, undulate-reticulate, reticulate, reticulate-protuberculate and papillate-tuberculate. This work offers the description, comparison and illustration of all of these types and subtypes. In addition, the unknown nutlet features of eight Satureja species are described in detail for the first time. It is clear that in future studies, external nutlet characters, especially surface texture, could be useful in species classification of the complex Satureja genus.