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The present study represents phylogenetic analyses of Plumbaginaceae with emphasis on Acantholimon from Iran using nrDNA ITS and plastid trn Y-T sequences. The analyses support the monophyly and the close relationship of Limonium , Armeria and Psylliostachys . This is the first report of the close relationship between Acantholimon and Cephalorhizum . The data for the position of Cephalorhizum is unclear. The Shimodaira–Hasegawa test of nrDNA ITS and the combined datasets indicated that Acantholimon and Cephalorhizum are distinct genera. The molecular data revealed that the traditionally recognized multi-specific Acantholimon sections ( Acantholimon , Acmostegia, Glumaria , Microstegia , Staticopsis and Tragacanthina ) are not monophyletic. Their members are intermixed with each other and scattered across the Acantholimon clade, but the smaller sections including Platystegia and Pterostegia , each comprising two species, are monophyletic.

Summary Plant-material was sampled from the thorny cushion species Acantholimon ulicinum , Astragalus angustifolius and Astragalus creticus . The samples were taken in the two highest mountainareas in Crete, the Lefka Ori- and the Ida-Mountains between March and November 1982. The material was analyzed for the main storage substances: starch, soluble carbohydrates (sugars), lipids and proteins. After the growth-phase in spring there could be observed a storage-phase during the dry summer in all three species, detectable by a distinct tendency of carbohydrate-storaging. In Acantholimon this was mainly by soluble sugars, in both Astragali by increased starch content. Differences in roots, stems, old and new shoots are shown.