EVALUATING MORPHOLOGICAL VARIABILITY OF ARTEMISIA HERBA-ALBA ASSO FROM WESTERN ALGERIA

This work was interested on the study of the morphological variability of 120 individuals of Artemisia herba-alba Asso coming from three stations in western Algeria, which was assessed through 15 quantitative and qualitative characters. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) results showed significant morphological variability inter and intra-population. This phenotypic variability is explained by a high genetic polymorphism determined at another genetic study that we conducted in parallel on individuals of the same site using molecular markers types ISSR. This study also revealed a large variability within A. herba alba which could help investigation on a large collection of individuals and therefore select the most efficient ecotypes for re-introduction this species in steppes and highlands of Algeria.