COMPARATIVE ANATOMICAL STUDIES ON SOME SPECIES OF CARTHAMUS L. IN TURKEY

Carthamus L. (Asteraceae) has been used in many secto rssuch as food, dye, cosmetic, biofuel industry and also used to cure many disease in traditional medicine. Within this study, it was aimed to present detailed anatomical characterization of five wild species of Carthamus grown in Anatolia, namely, C. dentatus Vahl., C. glaucus Bieb., C.lanatus L., C.persicus Willd. and C.tenuis (Boisand Balansa) Bornm. And to contribute to botanical and agricultural studies. Free-hand sections were taken from root, stem and leaf of each taxa. Sections were examined with light microscope and photographed by digital camera. Various measurements were taken on microscopic images. Variations on collenchyma to us cells in cortex, arrangements of scelerenchyma to us cells in vascular bundles, type of vascular bundles and state of the piths in stem; cuticular ornamentation, leaf types based on their adaxial-abaxial and crystal lines tructures in leaves were observed. Furthermore, an identification key was given based on anatomical features. Although anatomical features were generally similar, some of the characters varied among the species. According to the anatomical properties, C. persicus and C. glaucus were closely related to C. dentatus and C. tenuis, respectively, whereas C. lanatus was quite different from the others.