SCRIPTA FACULTATIS RERUM NATURALIUM ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES UNIVERSITATIS OSTRAVIENSIS AND BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT III. 159 Morphological variability of Malva alcea L. populations from Poland Zbigniew CELKA, Maria DRAPIKOWSKA, Katarzyna BUCZKOWSKA, Alina BĄCZKIEWICZ & J. MARCINIAK Abstract. Malva alcea was cultivated because of its healing, nutritive and colouring properties in prehistory and Middle Ages. This species is currently included in the group of relicts of cultivations whose occurrence is connected with archaeological structures, particularly with the remains of old cities and settlements. Nine populations of M. alcea L. in Poland have been studied as regards 5 morphological traits of seeds. Biometric data were subject to statistical analyses: multivariate analysis of variance, analysis of discriminant variables as well as the cluster analysis on the basis Euclidean distances. The considered populations proved to be significantly differentiated in terms of the morphological characters under study. There are differences between populations located in the Western (Germany and Western-Polish) and North-Eastern parts of the analysed territory. Key words: Malva alcea, seed morphology, variation, biometry On the territory of Poland there are 11 species of the tribe Malveae. They are all considered to be aliens (Mirek et al. 2002). Malva alcea is found all over Poland, and particularly frequently in its Western and South-Western parts (Zając, Zając 2001). The contemporary range of M. alcea is due to a great extent to its cultivation in prehistoric and medieval times as a medicinal, nutritious and dyeing plant. The species is considered a relict of former cultivation, which was imported by Slavs and cultivated in settlements, ancient cities and castles. Its current presence is related to the remains of the former constructions, and especially to the castles (Celka 1998, 1999, 2004). In taxonomy the most important traits are connected with features of fruits and seeds (Latowski 1982; Szkudlarz 2001). Moreover, in the genus Malva the main taxonomic traits are characters of flowers and pubescence (Walas 1959). Preliminary research has shown that carpological parameters can be used as a good tool to explain the taxonomic status of M. alcea s.l. The aim of this study was to analyse the morphological diversification of M. alcea from the territory of Poland and North-Eastern Germany in terms of seed traits. Materials and Methods The material under investigation was collected from nine locations in Central Europe. Eight of them are placed in Poland and one in North-Eastern Germany (Fig. 1). Six of the populations are on roadsides; one on a cemetery; and two on embankments of early medieval castles that are remains of very old settlements (Table 1). The populations of M. alcea were examined in terms of 5 morphological traits of the seed (Fig. 2). Data obtained from the morphological measurements were analysed statistically with the STATISTICA 7.1 for Windows software. The descriptive statistics of traits (means, standard deviations), coefficients of variation, and Pearson’s correlations between all traits were computed to evaluate the range of variation of morphological traits. Analysis of variance and the standard method of discriminant analysis were performed. The matrix of mean values per population was used to perform complete linkage method of cluster analysis based on Euclidean distances, in order to visualize the variation among examined populations. In order to check the significance of Mahalanobis distances, the F statistic with Bonferroni correction was applied (Morrison 1990; Sokal & Rohlf 1997).