Open access – Research article Morphological versus molecular markers to describe variability in Juniperus excelsa subsp. excelsa (Cupressaceae) Bouchra Douaihy 1 * , Karolina Sobierajska 2 , Anna Katarzyna Jasin ´ ska 2 , Krystyna Boratyn ´ ska 2 , Tolga Ok 3 , Angel Romo 4 , Nathalie Machon 5 , Yakiv Didukh 6 , Magda Bou Dagher-Kharrat 1 and Adam Boratyn ´ ski 2 1 Laboratoire ‘Caracte ´risation Ge ´nomique des Plantes’, Faculte ´ des Sciences, Universite ´ Saint-Joseph, Campus Sciences et Technologies, Mar Roukos, Mkalles, BP: 1514 Riad el Solh, Beirut 1107 2050, Lebanon 2 Institute of Dendrology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Parkow 5, 62-035 Ko ´rnik, Poland 3 Department of Forest Botany, Faculty of Forestry, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, 46100 Kahramanmaras, Turkey 4 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Institute of Botany, Passeig del Migdia s/n, 08038 Barcelona, Spain 5 Department of ‘Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversite’, CERSP, UMR 7204, National Museum of Natural History, 61 rue Buffon, Paris 75005, France 6 Institute of Botany of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Tereschenkivska 2, Kiev, Ukraine Received: 11 January 2012; Returned for revision: 15 February 2012; Accepted: 8 April 2012; Published: 18 April 2012 Citation details: Douaihy B, Sobierajska K, Jasin ´ska AK, Boratyn ´ska K, Ok T, Romo A, Machon N, Didukh Y, Bou Dagher-Kharrat M, Boratyn ´ski A. 2012. Morphological versus molecular markers to describe variability in Juniperus excelsa subsp. excelsa (Cupressaceae). AoB PLANTS 2012: pls013; doi:10.1093/aobpla/pls013 Abstract Background and aims Juniperus excelsa M.-Bieb. is a major forest element in the mountains of the eastern part of Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean regions. This study comprises the first morphological in- vestigation covering a large part of the geographical range of J. excelsa and aims to verify the congruency between the morphological results and molecular results of a previous study. Methodology We studied 14 populations sampled from Greece, Cyprus, Ukraine, Turkeyand Lebanon, 11 of which have previously been investigated using molecular markers. Three hundred and ninety- four individuals of J. excelsa were examined using nine biometric features characterizing cones, seeds and shoots, and eight derived ratios. Statistical analyses were conducted in order to evaluate the intra- and inter-population morphological variability. Principal results The level of intra-population variability observed did not show any geographical trends. The total variation mostly depended on the ratios of cone diameter/seed width and seed width/seed length. The discrimination analysis, the Ward agglomeration method and barrier analysis results showed a separation of the sampled populations into three main clus- ters. These results confirmed, in part, the geographical differentiation revealed by molecular markers with a lower level of differentiation and a less clear geographical pattern. The most differentiated populations using both markers corresponded to old, isolated populations in the high altitudes of Lebanon ( .2000 m). Moreover, a separation of the northern Turkish population from the southern Turkish populations was observed using both markers. Conclusions Morphological variation together with genetic and biogeographic studies make an effective tool for detecting relict plant populations and also populations subjected to more intensive selection. * Corresponding author’s e-mail address: bouchra.doueihy@usj.edu.lb Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. AoB PLANTS http://aobplants.oxfordjournals.org/ AoB PLANTS http://aobplants.oxfordjournals.org/ AoB PLANTS 2012: pls013; doi:10.1093/aobpla/pls013, available online at www.aobplants.oxfordjournals.org & The Authors 2012 1