Phytoliths of the argentine Poaceae: II-Leaf phytoliths of some species of the genus Panicum (Poaceae, Paniceae) from Entre Ríos province

Abstract

Foliar phytolith morphology of 8 species the Panicum (P. bergii Arechav., P. decipiens Nees. ex Trin., P. dichotomiflorum Michx., P. gouinii Fourn., P. hians Elliott, P. laxum Sw., P. prionitis Nees and P. sabulorum Lam.) present in the prairie of Entre Ríos Province, was described. Cluster analysis (UPGMA) and ordination by principal component analysis (PCA) were performed on 49 morphological characters from the 8 phytolith assemblages (OTUs). The results defined four groups: the first group includes P. laxum assemblage, the second one P. hians and P. decipiens assemblages, the third grollp P. prionitis assemblage and the last one with P. dichotomiflorum + [P. sabulorum + (P. bergii +P. gouinii)] assemblages. The 8 phytolith assemblages showed Panicoideae affinity (sensu Twiss, 1992), and differed from the typical phytolith assemblages of other subfamilies. This study supported the previous infrageneric classification proposed by Zuloaga et al. (1993), with the exception of subgenus Dichanthelium wich appeared in this analysis related to species of subgenus Panicum