Morphological, anatomical and ecological investigations on endemic Centaurea nivea and Centaurea wiedemanniana species distributed in West Anatolia

In this study, morphological, anatomical and ecological characteristics of two endemic species belonging to Centaurea L. genus namely Centaurea nivea ve C. wiedemanniana were investigated. Morphological structures of the samples collected from each locality were measured and analysed. Anatomical characteristics of the two species were determined by sections taken from root, stem, leaf and showed no prominent differences from other species belong to Centaurea genus. Chromosome numbers of the species were determined with root tip squash method. In the scope of ecological studies climate, rock and soil characteristics of the sampling localities were analysed. In addition, nutrient elements of roots, stems and leaves of the two plant species were analysed, their seed germination characteristics were determined. Their participant species were also established. Volumetric method was used to determine the amount of essential oils of the two species. It was found that both species contain minimum amount of essential oils. Antimicrobial effects of the two species were tested by using disc diffusion method on 12 different microorganism strains. Extracts were effective on some bacteria strains but it was not as effective as the chloramphenicol and amphicillin which were used as positive control. In the Red Data Book of Turkish Plants, C. nivea and C. wiedemanniana were categorised as ?critically endangered? and ?vulnerable?, respectively. In order to determine whether these species are at risk of extinction, their intra- and inter population genetic variations were studied by RAPD-PCR. High genetic variation values were observed both intra and inter population level for both C. nivea and C. wiedemanniana. Conservation strategies for these species have been suggested. Keywords: Centaurea nivea, C. wiedemanniana, Morphology, Anatomy, Ecology, RAPD-PCR