During 2013 and 2014, fresh material of Tetraena hamiensis (Schweinf.) Beier & Thulin was collected from four different localities in Saudi Arabia. Some morphological differences, especially in leaf, flower parts, and fruit characters, were observed among individuals of this species within the same location. | Turkish Journal of Botany Turk J Bot (2017) 41: 96-106 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Systematic studies on the Zygophyllaceae of Saudi Arabia: new combinations in Tetraena Maxim. 1, 2 Dhafer Ahmed ALZAHRANI *, Enas Jameel ALBOKHARI Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia 1 Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: During 2013 and 2014, fresh material of Tetraena hamiensis (Schweinf.) Beier & Thulin was collected from four different localities in Saudi Arabia. Some morphological differences, especially in leaf, flower parts, and fruit characters, were observed among individuals of this species within the same location. Principal coordinates analysis and the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic algorithm clustering test split off individuals of T. hamiensis with these morphological varieties as three clusters; one comprises individuals with characters overlapping those of T. hamiensis, one comprises individuals with characters overlapping those of T. qatarensis, and one comprises individuals with characters overlapping those of T. mandavillei. Therefore, T. hamiensis, T. qatarensis, and T. mandavillei are herein considered as varieties of T. hamiensis (T. hamiensis var. hamiensis, T. hamiensis var. qatarensis, and T. hamiensis var. mandavillei). Tetraena hamiensis and its varieties are illustrated and morphological characters are supplied to differentiate among them. Key words: Taxonomy, Tetraena, Tetraena hamiensis, Zygophyllaceae, PCoA, UPGMA, Saudi Arabia 1. Introduction Zygophyllaceae is a widespread family of herbs, shrubs, and trees growing in arid and semiarid areas in the tropics and subtropics. Currently, it includes about 285 species and 27 genera .
