The presented study carried out the numerical classification of eight cultivars belonging to five species of the genus Brassica L. (Brassicaceae), cultivated in Nineveh Governorate, Iraq. The morphological, pollen, and chemical properties obtained evaluation for the degree of equality and taxa classification. Thirty morphological qualitative and quantitative characters underwent cluster analysis. Moreover, the analysis of 11 chemical compounds supported taxonomic assessment. The coding of data succeeded numerically before analysis using SPSS software to generate equality indices and dendrograms. The polygon and the dendrogram demonstrated an apparent variation among the cultivars and their species, which supports the validity of species and selected properties of cultivars. The degree of equality among the cultivars ranged from 0.5% to 68.7%, depending on morphological and physiological features, while equality values based on the chemical compounds ranged between 6.9% and 82.8%. The analysis divided the genus Brassica L. cultivars into six groups and confirmed the effectiveness of the numerical taxonomy in portraying taxonomic relationships. The results emphasized the importance of integrating qualitative traits of leaves, pollen grains, and chemical features to improve the classification and understanding of Brassica cultivation.

Keywords: Brassicaceae, cluster analysis, cultivars, degree of equality, genus Brassica L., morphological and chemical features, numerical taxonomy, species

Key findings: Brassica cultivation exhibited broad morphological and chemical diversity, with equality indices ranging from 0.5% to 82.8%. Numerical analysis that integrates morphological, pollen, and chemical features divided eight cultivars into six groups. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the numerical taxonomy to improve classification and support breeding and conservation strategies.