Ecological and Morphological Variation of Wild Ruscus aculeatus from Mediterranean Region of Southern Turkey

In this study the ecological and morphological variation of Ruscus wild species from different altitude of the Mediterranean region were surveyed and identified. Ecological and morphological variations of R. aculeatus L. collected from six different regions were determined. The lowest plant height (26.4 cm), stem number (1.0) leaves number (9.3), fresh weight (2.8 g), fresh and dried rhizome (5.2 g, 2.2 g respectively) were obtained from Zorkun region (Altitude 750 m) which is deforested area, recovered by low trees population; Pinus spp. and rocky screes. No significant correlations between different regions were observed in terms of leaflet number in deep, middle and top unit and dried herb yield. Also highest fresh and dried rhizome weight (59.3 g, 30.6 g respectively) were obtained from Duzici region (Altitude 500 m) which is covered with Quercus sp., Pinus sp., Myrtus sp., Cistus sp., Erica sp. In general, morphological characters of R. aculeatus showed large scale variation in different habitat and altitudes.