The taxonomic significance of achene Micro-and Macromorphology in Cyperus L. (CYPERACEAE)

A data matrix was compiled to accommodate 38 macro- and micro-morphological characters of the achenes recorded comparatively for 12 cyperus species (with three subspecies) using light (lm) and scanning electron microscopy (sem).the data matrix was analyzed numerically using jaccard’s coefficient as a similarity measure and the upgma clustering method. the recorded characters proved useful in two ways: (i) to delimit the taxa,and (ii) the dendrogram reflected the taxonomic relationships among the 15 taxa. comparison between the taxonomic arrangement of the 15 taxa and previous classifications is provided. © 2015,pakistan botanical society. all rights reserved.