APS_October 2018

C arob

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Figure 2. Examples of centennial carob trees across Lebanon considered in the study. From left to right and from top to bottom: Female carob tree with a high basal circumference in Amioun population; Male tree with two trunks in Amioun population; Female carob tree of Joun population with a big cavity on trunk induced by bad pruning practices; Female carob tree of Nahr Ibrahim population with big cavity on the basal part of trunk. Figure 2. Examples of centennial carob trees across Lebanon considered in the study. From left to right and from top to bottom: Fem le carob tre with a high basal circumference in Amioun populatio ; Male tree with two trunks in Amioun population; Female carob tree of Joun population it bi cavity on trunk induced by bad pruning practices; Female carob tre of Na r Ibrahim population with big cavity the basal part f trunk.

m and receiving between 920 and 491 mm of rainfall (Supplementary Table 1). Each tree was assumed to be one accession, having a trunk circumference of 2 m and above (Fig. 2). According to information given initially by the growers and elderly villagers, the trees were considered to be more than 100 years old. For each tree, samples of 20 mature leaves and pods were collected randomly on lateral branches. After seed extraction, 20

seeds were randomly chosen from 10 pods per tree. Morphological descriptors Globally five qualitative (scored) and 28 quantitative traits (measured) of the tree, leaf, pod and seed were examined, based on the descriptors previously developed for carob tree characterization (Barracosa et al ., 2008 and 2007; Batlle and Tous, 1997; Ghar- 27