Numerical taxonomy of south Indian Piper L. (Piperaceae) I. Cluster analysis.

Ravindran P. N., Balakrishnan R., & K. Nirmal Babu

Published on : 01-Jan-2022

DOI : https://dx.doi.org/10.22244/rheedea.1992.02.01.07

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Abstract

Seventeen Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) comprising elEven South Indian species of Piper were subjected to a cluster analysis study based on 30 characters. Clustering of characters led to the recognition of six character groupings. The clustering of taxa resulted in the fol lowing species groupings: {1) P. attenuatum. P. argyrophyllum (2) P. galeatum. P. trichostachyon and P. schmidtii (3) P. nigrum, P. nigrum var. hirte//osum. and P. wightii (4) P. hymenophyl/um (5) P. mullesua, and P. sifentva//eyensis (6) P. fongum. In general, the study supported the existing classificatory scheme of South Indian taxa of Piper. P. mullesua, p. si/entvalleyensis and P. longum were found to be very distinct from the rest of the species and this calls for a revised infrageneric classification of the South Indian taxa of Piper.