Phylogenetic relationships of some Turkish Crocus (Iridaceae) taxa based on morphological and anatomical characters

In this study, relationships among the 15 taxa of the genus Crocus L. distributed in Turkey were analysed using 29 morphological and 4 anatomical characters. Analysis of the data set utilising maximum parsimony criterion with Branch-and-Bound search algorithm yielded 32 most parsimonious trees. Bootstrap analysis with the majority rule consensus algorithm generated a consensus tree supporting some branches. Our data mostly did not agree with the previous sectional and serial treatments. The most interesting result was the condition of Crocus pallasii, which was previously included in the section Crocus. C. pallasii showed a sister group relationship with C. cancellatus from the section Nudiscapus series Reticulati in this work. Previously described sections Flavi and Reticulati did not show monophyly for their taxa based on our analysis (e.g., C. gargaricus and C. cancellatus of the section Reticulati were not monophyletic based on our data set). Interestingly, C. gargaricus of the section Reticulati was sister to the section Nudiscapus series Biflori members, specifically with C. leichtlinii. Sectional and serial treatment of C. fleischeri was consistent with our results. Our data suggest that more morphological data along with molecular data are needed for reliable conclusions on the studied taxa.