Seed morphology of some Silene L. (Caryophyllaceae) species collected from Turkey.

The seed micro- and macromorphology of 39 Silene taxa were studied by stereomicroscope and scanning electron microscope. Quantitative (9) and qualitative (11) values of seed characters vary greatly both within and between taxa. The tree topology of UPGMA based on quantitative values does not supported the traditional relationship. Therefore, we concluded that seed characters of Silene alone cannot be used to describe taxa without detecting the full range of intra- and intertaxon variation of those characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]