Morphological variability of two closely related orchis species in different growing conditions

Abstract – The morphological characters variability structure of two closely related species (Orchis punctulata Steven ex Lindl. and O. purpurea Huds.) in forest and steppe communities was studied. In total, six cenopopulations were researched during 2015–2023. An analysis of the variability of 12 morphological characters in 375 generative individuals of O. punctulata and 356 generative individuals of O. purpurea was carried out. We used the following methods: correlated, principal component, linear discriminant. It was found that growing conditions influence the majority (58%) of O. punctulata morphological characters, and do not influence the vast majority (83%) of O. purpurea characters. Ordination by the methods of principal components and discriminant analysis convincingly separates O. punctulata population samples from forest and steppe communities. Population samples of O. purpurea from forest and steppe communities were morphologically homogeneous. The morphological variability specifics of these two closely related species could be explained by different mechanisms of life strategies formation