Taxonomic relationships of eight taxa (representing three tribes, four genera and seven species) of Lauraceae grown in Egypt were studied, using both the morpho-architectural leaf pattern, as well as inter-simple sequence repeat ISSR analysis. The morpho-architectural leaf patterns were investigated by LM. The genetic differentiation among the studied taxa was analyzed by a genotyping method using 13 ISSR primers. The recorded data achieved from the morpho-architectural patterns and 13 ISSR primers were analyzed using the Dice coefficient to compute the similarity matrix. This similarity matrix was used to produce dendrograms using the UPGMA clustering method. The traditional morphological characters were insufficient to resolve relationships within the studied taxa and did not provide generic delimitation. The results obtained from ISSR analysis demonstrated that the genetic analysis were sufficient to resolve relationships within Lauraceae. It also supported previous researches which concluded that Cinnamomum was rejected as monophyletic group.
Key words: Lauraceae, Leaf venation, Apollonias, Cinnamomum, Laurus, Persea, ISSR.
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