[01] Karimian Atefe, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran. [02] Taheri Abkenar Kambiz, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran. [03] Torkaman Javad, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

This paper aims to cluster Castanea sativa based on morphological variations of leaves and fruits. Therefore, the main and natural existing sites of sweet chestnut including Shaft, Fouman and Shafaroud were considered in Guilan province. From each site, 10 trees with various morphological traits with at least 100 meters distance from each other were selected. Leaves and fruits were sampled from selected trees. Totally, the number of 30 samples of fruits and leaves were provided individually. The ANOVA results of quantitative traits (e.g. the length, the width of the lamina, special form of the leaf, total and relative length of the petiole, the leaf basal shape, fruit weight, seed weight and healthy seeds weigh) showed significant difference in the three study areas. It was concluded that the morphological traits such as leaf, the width of the lamina, the relative length of the petiole, the leaf tip shape, lamina shape, seed weight and healthy seeds weight were the most important elements in shaping of cluster.

Morphological Traits, Leave and Fruit, Castanea Sativa, Principal Component Analysis, Guilan, Iran

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