Morphometric Parameters of Plants of Crambe Spp. During Vegetation

Abstract

Plants of Crambe spp. belong to Brassicaceae Burnett family and some of them are known as economically important species. Extracts of Crambe spp. exhibited numerous biological activities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiproliferative, cytotoxic, etc. This study was aimed to research morphometric parameters of plants of five species of Crambe L. during vegetation season (from the start of vegetation, budding stage, flowering stage, and to fruitage): C. cordifolia Steven, C. hispanica subsp. abyssinica (Hochst. et R.E.Fr.) Prina, C. koktebelica (Junge) N. Busch, C. maritima L., C. steveniana Rupr.  The plant height, leaf length, leaf width, petiole length, length of panicle measured in cm, flower length, flower width, corolla length, petal length, petal width, fruit length, and fruit diameter measured in mm. The increment of investigated plants at the period of vegetation start-budding was 47.7–128.9 cm and plant height increased 2.67 (C. maritima)–5.57 (C. koktebelica) times, at the budding-flowering period 9.7–94.4 cm and plant height increased 1.08 (C. cordifolia)–1.85 (C. steveniana) times, at the period flowering-fruiting 8.20–26.0 cm and plant height increased 1.06 (C. cordifolia)–1.10 (C. maritima) times. The variability of morphometric features during vegetation was following: height of plant from 0.57 to 13.98 %, length of leaf from 1.25 to 13.65 %, width of leaf from 2.17 to 48.10 %, length of petiole from 3.34 to 18.01 %, length of panicle from 1.41 to 13.09 %, width of panicle from 1.62 to 17.37 %, and stem diameter from 2.89 to 23.47 %. The study of morphometric parameters of flowers showed that the length of flower was 5.03–16.46 mm, width of flower 2.01–5.54 mm, corolla length 2.94–10.58 mm, petal length 3.63–7.11 mm, and petal width 3.64–5.51 mm depending on species. The morphometric parameters of fruits were the following: fruit length 3.02–10.10 mm and fruit diameter 4.08–8.78 mm depending on species. The thousand-fruit weight was 7.30–12.50 g. Selected morphometric parameters showed Pearson’s coefficients with high values (r = 0.843–0.994) during vegetation. A comparative study of the morphometric parameters of investigated species of Crambe in M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden had a variability of morphometric parameters depending on species, period of growth, and organ of a plant. These results can be useful for selective work and detecting the diagnostic signs.