Data from: Wild cherries, petioles and geography: Response to locational and elevational trends in Türkiye

Widely distributed plants demonstrate a number of anatomical differences
that help them adapt to the variable abiotic factors across their ranges,
which in turn contributes to intraspecies variation. The genus Prunus L.
subgenus Cerasus (Mill.) Focke is distributed across the three major
phytogeographical regions (Mediterranean, Euro-Siberian and
Irano-Turanian) of Türkiye and on either side of the major geological
divide known as the Anatolian Diagonal. According to the Köppen-Geiger
climate classification, Türkiye features 10 subclassifications in the arid
semi-arid (B), temperate (C) and continental (D) zones. To explore how
these affect the variation of this taxonomically complex subgenus, we
examined the petiole anatomy of 63 individuals of its 10 species collected
from across the country, characterizing their differences on a taxonomic
level and investigating geographical and climatic sources of variation. To
explore the variation in petiole anatomical characters, we employed
multivariate linear and logistical regression analyses using altitude and
coordinate data, as well as phytogeographical region and position in
relation to the Anatolian Diagonal, as independent inputs. The results
indicate that geographical position and altitude had an effect on petiole
and vascular bundle dimensions, while climate zone is an important source
of variation in cortex layer number and nodal pattern for some species.
Analysing the group as a whole also yields some insight into the
differences that may help species adapt to their specific surroundings.
Additionally, we discuss differences in petiole anatomy among species,
their implications for taxonomy and provide a key based on petiole cross
sections.