NATURAL SCIENCES

Journal of fundamental
and
applied researches

The variability of identification signs for the Lycopus Europaeus plant populations

2013. №1, pp. 43-54

Kozak Margarita F. - Sc.D. (Biology), Professor, Astrakhan State University, 1 Shaumian Sq., Astrakhan, 414000, Russian Federation, mkozak@yandex.ru

Turdugulova Raushan T. - post-graduate student, Astrakhan State University, 1 Shaumian Sq., Astrakhan, 414000, Russian Federation, mkozak@yandex.ru

The article has provided a comparative statistical study of the quantitative and morphological organs of the Lycopus Europaeus L. generative plant populations in the natural plant habitats of the Astrakhan and Orenburg regions. The aim of the study is to integrate their genotypic and phenotypic data, and analyze the relationship between genotype and environmental conditions. In the Astrakhan region, the critique adds, the hot summer and climatic conditions contrast with the desert, causing L. Europaeus to be similar in the coastal depression flood plain to the Phragmites Australis plant communities. The paper states that L. Europaeus grows separately in the relief of the humidified ecotops, with this plant having a continuous covering of a surface plantlet (in close proximity with the rising Volga sand level). The review studied the L. Europaeus plant community in the coastal population of the ’Salsola’ Astrakhan region, comparing it with the Phragmites Australis population (in sands and ridges on the horizon) and with populations (in other habitats) of this and other species of the Lamiaceae family. It has established that L. Europaeus has the most extended period of vegetation and flowering from all of the wild-growing representatives of the Lamiaceae family studied, only being comparable in the duration of its phenological phases with the Efiromaslichny plant of Lophanthus Anisatus Benth (which is raised under cultured conditions). Moreover, the L. Europaeus plant population grows in the crevices of rocks at the foot of the waterfall near the village. By contrast, the Sarah Orenburg region exhibits stronger development of vegetative organs. The analysis showed a high degree of fenotipic variability of morphological signs for L. Europaeus in populations of the Astrakhan and Orenburg areas, according to the plant’s stalk height, thickness, number of metamers, branching level and leaf parameters. The analysis indicated that despite its wide-spread circulation and ecological plasticity, the L. Europaeus population has virtually no attachment to certain conditions of relief, soil, moistening and food types.

Key words: Lycopus Europaeus L.,populations,variability,identification signs,integration of data,phenotype,genotype,environment