Morphology and numerical taxonomy of Hieracium L. (Compositae) species distributed in Black Sea region

Morphology and Numerical Taxonomy of Hieracium L. (Compositae) Species Distributed in Black Sea Region In this study, 54 Hieracium species were examined in terms of morphology and numerical taxonomy. Plant materials used in this study were collected from Black Sea Region (Giresun, Trabzon, Rize, Artvin, Gümüşhane) between 1998 and 1999 in the vegetation periods of Hieracium species. Morphological studies were carried out from herbarium species; Cluster Analysis (CA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were performed on variables determined by morphological examination of the vouchers. At the end of morphological study, 54 Hieracium species were found. Nine of them (H. cardiophyllum, H. lachenalii, H. rartluense, H. pseudosvaneticum, H. hypoglaucum, H. jurracicum, H. ladikense, H. biebersteinii, H. callichlorum) for the Flora of Turkey, eleven of them (H. tossianum, H. subsilvularum, H. laxifurcans, H. cryptonaevum, H. calobrassinum, H. sarykamyschense, H. paphlagonicum, H. syreistschikovii, H. teberdense, H. olympicum, H. sabaudum) for the study region were newly recorded. By the numerical analysis of these species from 30 morphological characters, the most variable species (H artabirense, H. erthrocarpum, H. karagoellense, H. giresunense, H. pseudosvaneticum, H biebersteinii) and the best characters (number and lenght of simple hair on the peduncle, number and lenght of simple hair on the phyllary) that represent the variation has been determined. In addition, the numerical results were compared with the traditional methods and a new key for the examined species was prepared in this study. Key Words: Hieracium, Compositae, Cluster Analysis, Principal Component Analysis, Numerical Analysis, Morphology, Taxonomy. VII