Morphological, anatomical and ecological studies on some endemic species belonging to Symphytum L. genus

In this thesis study, morphological, anatomical and ecological properties of Symphytum bornmuelleriBucknall and Symphytum aintabicumHub.-Mor.& Wickens were investigated. These species are endemic Euxine and East Mediterranean element of Turkey and have limited distribution. Morphological and anatomical investigations were made using light and stereo-microscopes. Morphological properties of vegetative and generative organs such as root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit and seed were given in detail. In anatomical investigaions, the cross-sections were taken from root, stem and leaves of species, and the surface-sections were taken from upper and lower surfaces of leaves. S. bornmuelleri and S. aintabicum have bifacial leaves in terms of mesophyll structure. Stomata were observed on both upper and lower surfaces of the leaves. While stomata are anomocytic type in S. bornmuelleri, stomata were anomocytic and anisocytic in S. aintabicum. On vegetative and generative organs, the number of stalk cells and and part with different eglandular trichomes and glandular trichomes with different number of stalk cells were seen, respectively. The depth of the calyx teeth, ratio of limbus length to the tube length in the corolla, corolla scales being long or short from stamens at the top,veining type in leaves, the number of flowers in chymos, the edge structures of calyx sections, the tallness of style were determined to be important as taxonomic characters. The number of layers of collenchyma and parenchyma in the stem cortex, the number of layers of sclerenchyma between the vascular bundles, the status of the vascular bundles, the distribution of collenchyma and paranchyma layers in stem cortex the density of micropapilla and papillae in the cuticle and epiderma, stoma index and types, the margin structure of epiderma cells and stalk cell number and head structure of capitate trichomeswere found to be very valuable as distinguishing anatomical characters. Soil samples were taken during flowering periods of these species and the physical and chemical properties of soil samples were determined. The investigated species depict a distribution on the soil containing clayey-loamy, loamy, saltless, slightly alkaline, medium degree calcareous, rich in organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.