Morpho-Colorimetric Characterization of the Sardinian Endemic Taxa of the Genus Anchusa L. by Seed Image Analysis.

Abstract

In this work, the seed morpho-colorimetric differentiation of the Sardinian endemic species of Anchusa (Boraginaceae) was evaluated. In Sardinia, the Anchusa genus includes the following seven taxa: A. capellii , A. crispa ssp. crispa , A. crispa ssp. maritima , A. formosa , A. littorea , A. montelinasana , and A. sardoa . Seed images were acquired using a flatbed scanner and analyzed using the free software package ImageJ. A total of 74 seed morpho-colorimetric features of 2692 seed lots of seven taxa of Anchusa belonging to 17 populations were extrapolated and used to build a database of seed size, shape, and color features. The data were statistically elaborated by the stepwise linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to compare and discriminate each accession and taxon. In addition, the seed morpho-colorimetric differences among coastal and mountainous taxa were evaluated. Considering the ecological conditions, the LDA was able to discriminate among the Anchusa taxa with a correct identification of 87.4% and 90.8% of specimens for mountainous and coastal plants, respectively. Moreover, the LDA of the 17 populations of Anchusa showed a low separation among species and populations within the coastal group, highlighting how the long-distance dispersal by flotation on the sea water surface and the pollination network may influence the similarity patterns observed. In addition, a misattribution was observed for A. crispa ssp. crispa , which was misclassified as A. crispa ssp. maritima in 14.1% of cases, while A. crispa ssp. maritima was misidentified as A. crispa ssp. crispa in 21.1% of cases, highlighting a close phenotypic relationship between these two taxa. The statistical results obtained through the seed image analysis showed that the morpho-colorimetric features of the seeds provide important information about the adaptation and evolution of Anchusa taxa in Sardinia.

Plant phenotyping relevance

種子画像をスキャナーとImageJで解析し、サイズ・形状・色の74特徴量を抽出して識別する手法が研究の中心であり、植物器官の形態形質を定量化している。

Code and data availability

The paper's seed morpho-colorimetric measurements (74 features, 2692 seeds) and analysis outputs are not deposited publicly. The MDPI supplement (Table S1–S3) contains PCA variance tables, classification percentages, and accession metadata, but not the raw phenotype/trait dataset or seed images. The Particles8 plugin (

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