Principal Components Analysis of Acacia burkei and A. nigrescens in Natal

Abstract

Four principal component analyses were carried out to study the perplexing relations within  Acacia burkei Benth. and between it and  A. nigrescens Oliv. Sampling methods are described in detail. Ten morphological parameters were noted from 163 plants of 21 populations. The results confirmed conclusions of earlier non-multivariate studies. The two species can be distinguished on the basis of the ten parameters and it is of doubtful value to recognize infraspecific categories within  A. burkei as the variation within the species is continuous. The technique of principal components analysis was most useful in this study.