morphological variability

Data on morphological variability of 13 populations of the species Colchicum laetum Steven, rare for the Russian Federation, in the territory of the Volgograd region, the Republic of Kalmykia and the Stavropol Territory are presented. A strong morphological variability of populations on the territory of the regions was noted both at the intra- and interpopulation level. Apparently, the heterogeneity of the environment in space, both signifi cant and local, is well felt by plants of populations that adapt to this heterogeneity in diff erent ways.

It is shown that habitat conditions have a strong influence on the shape and vitality of the state of the individual Calophaca wolgarica. The most favorable conditions for the growth of Calophaca wolgarica in the Volgograd region are aligned sites with non-light-chestnut fairly rich soils in shrub-grass and couch-grass communities on the edges of the belts, on which there is no mowing and minimal grazing.

The morphological variability in populations of Chondrilla was subject to the numerical analysis using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA). The study showed that out of the seven species of the genus found in European Russia, it is only C. ambigua that has the status of undoubted species. A distinct difference is observed between the two groups of populations: the first group comprising C. juncea, C. latifolia, C. brevirostris, and the mixed population of C. juncea/graminea; and the second group comprising the populations of C. graminea and C.