An investigation on plant-soil interactions in some endemic Centaurea taxa from Hatay, Turkiye

The aim of the present investigation was to explore the ecological characteristics of some endemic Centaurea taxa (C. arifolia, C. foliosa, C. antiochia var. antiochia, C. lycopifolia, C. haradjianii, and C. ptosimopappa) distributed in the Hatay province of Turkiye. The genus Centaurea occurs widely in Turkiye with high endemism rate. Most of the species belonging to this genus are distributed in the Mediterranean as well as Near East, and a few are found in other continents such as Northern Eurasia, North and East Africa, North America, and Australia. This genus is represented by approximately 220 taxa in Turkiye, of which 133 are endemic. Moreover, it was also aimed to investigate the soil-plant interactions. Our results revealed that the taxa investigated prefer clayey-loamy, nonsaline, and slightly alkaline soils with high lime content and potassium. In all plant organs, the results for root, stem, and leaf parts showed that nitrogen and phosphorus were below the standard values, whereas sodium was over the standard level. In general, potassium values varied significantly among the endemic Centaurea taxa, which could have been due to variation in soils of the respective ecological habitats.