Collection and evaluation of genetic material of Bituminaria bituminosa (L.) Stirton from various regions of Greece – Preliminary results

Bituminaria bituminosa (L.) Stirton, formerly known as Psoralea bituminaria, is a perennial legume, hemicryptophyte, indigenous in South Europe, West Asia and North Africa. It is found all over Greece in dry and open sites, and characterized by the presence of secondary chemical compounds in its mature leaves. It is used as forage or hay by domestic animals and as a pharmaceutical plant. In this paper, the pod character variation is presented in the framework of a project aiming at collecting and evaluating the genetic material of this species in Greece. Fruits of 14 populations growing in several areas in mainland and in the islands were collected in the summer of 2003. In each population, pod weight and seed and beak length were measured. Differences were statistically significant in these three characters among populations but not within them. The heaviest pods and longest seeds were found in a provenance from Crete followed by a provenance from Drama, northern Greece, while the less heavy pods and the shortest seeds were found in Pelion, Central Greece. The longest beak was measured also in Crete, while the shortest one in Vermion, northern Greece. In general, no specific geographical or altitudinal patterns in the distribution of pod characters measured were detected.