Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L. ssp. caucasica Rousi) is one of the most important wild edible fruits, grown in Turkey for centuries without any chemical treatments. The plant is extremely resistant to adverse environmental conditions. In this study, the main agro-morphological and biochemical berry traits and, to a lesser extent, other plant morphological traits of 10 sea buckthorn genotypes sampled from the eastern Anatolia (Sivas province) region were assessed. Among the 10 genotypes, five of them presented a shrub growth habit, whereas five of them presented tree growth habit, with leaf area ranging from 2.56 to 4.22 cm². The majority of genotypes had an oblong berry shape with variable berry skin color ranging from dark orange to orange, light orange, and yellow. The weight of 100 berries varied from 13.85 to 23.87 g, while juice yield and vitamin C content was found to be 44.87–57.15% and 37.45–62.85 mg/100 g fresh berry base, respectively. Soluble solid content (SSC) was in the range of 12.56–14.67%. The genotypes exhibited a great variability in total anthocyanin content (from 9.1 to 38.7 mg/L), with relatively dark-orange sea buckthorn berries containing more anthocyanin than orange, light-orange, and yellow berries. Linoleic acid was the main fatty acid detected in the pulp of sea buckthorn berries, ranging from 24.11% to 36.37%, depending on the genotype. Investigated genotypes proved also to be rich in total phenolic content, showing at the same time great variability in this trait. The results obtained from the relatively limited number of genotypes show promising traits for further valorization of both horticultural and nutritional traits, suggesting potentially even higher variability, if more genotypes are going to be considered in the future.

Morphological and anatomical traits of Berberis croatica Horvat that would facilitate its separation from the two related taxa, B. aetnensis C. Presl and B. vulgaris L., and their ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacers of nuclear ribosomal DNA) relationships were analyzed. Results show that B. croatica differs from the two related taxa in the following characteristics: plant height, blade width, petiole length, internode length, number of stomata on adaxial and abaxial leaf side, total number of stomata per leaf as well as length of the guard cells and of the stomatal pore on the abaxial epidermis. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) show that 24% of the total variance of investigated morpho-anatomical traits was attributable to variability among species. Phenotypic differentiation of species and populations was evident in all of the investigated taxa. Southern populations of B. croatica grouped with the populations of B. aetnensis with whom they proved to be highly similar. ITS sequence analysis did not separate B. aetnensis, B. croatica and B. vulgaris. The nature of distinctive morpho-anatomical traits combined with the lack of ITS differences suggests an intraspecies taxonomic rank for B. croatica.

Fruit and seed traits ofBerberis croaticaHorvat andBerberis vulgarisL.: The three year variability of fruits and seeds was investigated inBerberis croatica(Vošac, Mt Biokovo, Rakov Potok near Zagreb) and inB. vulgaris(Fran Kušan Pharmaceutical Botanical Garden in Zagreb).Berberis croaticahad the following dimensions of fruits (seeds): length 7.28-7.88 (4.57-5.03) mm; width 3.85-3.99 (width 1: 2.06-2.20; width 2: 1.44-1.63) mm; weight 0.065-0.078 (0.0116-0.0134) g. Dimensions ofB. vulgarisfruits (seeds) were: length 10.20-11.29 (5.71-6.24) mm; width 5.29-5.83 (width 1: 2.40-2.71; width 2: 1.60-1.98) mm; weight 0.1602-0.2199 (0.0146-0.0235) g. The fruit shape of both species was similar and the length/width ratio was 1.91-2.04 inB. croaticaand 1.77-2.07 inB. vulgaris.The number of seeds per fruit was 1.23-1.58 inB. croaticaand 1.36-1.54 inB. vulgaris. Generally, fruits and seeds ofB. vulgariswere significantly longer, wider and heavier than fruits and seeds ofB. croatica. ANOVA showed significant statistical differences between populations for all analyzed fruit and seed traits while the species significantly differed in all traits, except in the fruit shape and number of seeds in fruit.

Leaf and shoot characteristics of the following four European barberry taxa from the Balkan Peninsula and Sicily were investigated in the present study: Berberis croatica, B. vulgaris, B. aetnensis and B. cretica. Analyses were based on 10 populations of B. croatica, five of B. vulgaris and two populations of both B. aetnensis and B. cretica. Populations were randomly selected within the natural distribution area of these species. Eight leaf traits, three shoot traits and the blade length/width ratio were analysed. Multivariate analysis (principal component analysis, canonical discriminant analysis and cluster analysis) distinguished B. cretica and B. aetnensis populations and, to a lesser extent, the populations of B. croatica and B. vulgaris. ANOVA showed that the analysed populations of both B. aetnensis and B. cretica were homogeneous within the species. All populations of both B. croatica and B. vulgaris showed different degrees of intraspecies variability. Lack of complete separation, the observed grouping of populations and high intraspecies variability in B. vulgaris and B. croatica may reflect the fact that the sampled B vulgaris and B.croatica populations were located at environmentally variable sites (unlike B. aetnensis and B. cretica), resulting in high phenotypic plasticity in those populations. Even though the observed patterns of morphological variation support the idea of four barberry taxa on the Balkan Peninsula and in Sicily, because of suspected adaptive phenotypic plasticity of the analysed Berberis taxa, the true taxonomic status of these taxa needs to be additionally confirmed by molecular methods.