Search

Foliar and petiole micro-morphological characteristics of some members of the genus Vernonia namely; Vernonia amygdalina Del. (bitter variety), Vernonia amygdalina Del. (non-bitter variety), Vernonia cinerea (L) Less., Vernonia galamensis (Cass.) Less., and Vernonia adoensis Sch. Bip. in Jos, Nigeria was investigated to provide additional micro-morphological characters to support existing taxonomic information regarding the species. Epidermal peels of fresh leaves were made and transverse sections of petio les were cut using a rotary microtome. Staining was done using Safranin and slides observed using a light microscope. Quantitative characters were measured and subjected to Duncan Multiple Range Test. Stomatal distribution was amphistomatic except for V. galamensis and V. cinerea with hypostomatic distribution; stomata type was mostly anomocytic except V. galamensis with paracytic stomata. Stomata index varied among taxa with V. adoensis and V. amygdalina (bitter variety) having the highest (10.84 %) and lowest (0.67%) respectively. Anticlinal cell wall patterns were straight to slightly undulate while wavy anticlinal cell wall pattern was diagnostic to V. cinerea. Trichome types observed were glandular and multicellular uniseriate with highest and lowest trichome indices recorded in V. adoensis (2.80%) and V. galamensis (0.02%) respectively. Petiole outline was convex to concave, epidermis was uniseriate, trichome multicellular uniseriate and vascular bundles bicollateral. Variations observed in the stomatal complex, epidermal cell complex, petiole outline, petiole vasculature type, trichome and stomata indices could be employed for species identification and delimitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf epidermal morphology of seven species of Lannea in the family Anacardiaceae were studied, namely: L. kerstingii, L. welwitschii, L. schimperii, L. egregia, L. acida, L. microcarpa, and L. fruticosa. The study revealed that several interesting characters, such as anticlinal cell wall pattern (ACWP), epidermal cell wall shape (ECWS), epidermal cell size (ECS), stomatal complex type (SCT), stomatal density (SD), stomatal size (SS), stomatal index (SI), and trichomes are constant and variable within and between some genera. ACWPs are straight, curved, round and undulate in the studied species. ECWS are found to be polygonal on both leaf surfaces, except in L. fruticosa. Stomata occur only on the abaxial leaf surface in all studied species; cyclocytic and anomocytic stomatal complex types are the only two types found, the anomocytic type occurring in five species: Lannea kerstingii, L. welwitschii, L. schimperii, L. egregia, and L. acida. Stomata are smaller in size in all species. Another important fact is that SD and SI vary from species to species. Out of the seven Lannea species, only three possess trichomes, namely L. kerstingii, L. schimperii and L. fruticosa. Thus the abovementioned leaf features are of great taxonomic significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation on the leaf epidermal morphological features was carried out on five species of the genus Capsicum in the family Solanaceae collected from different regions in the Southwestern part of Nigeria in search of taxonomic and diagnostic characters that could be employed for their classification and identification. The species are C. annuum L., C frutescens L., C. chinense jacq., C. baccatum L., and C. chacoense Hunz. All the species possessed either anomocytic or anisocytic stomata type on both adaxial and abaxial surfaces except for C. chinense which showed paracytic stomata type on both surfaces. The leaves of C. baccatum, C. annuum, C. chinense and C. frutescens are amphistomatic, while that of C. chacoense are epistomatic. The similarities and overlaps observed in the cell shape, stomata index and anticlinal wall pattern of the species provide evidence for their genetic and evolutionary relationship and justification for their taxonomic grouping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foliar epidermal characters of ten species from the genus Cassia L. Emend. Gaertner, Senna Miller and Chamaecrista Moench found in South Western Nigeria were studied. The aim was to establish some useful diagnostic features that may be employed in combination with other characters as intra or inter-specific or generic tools for their delimitation. Our results revealed exciting features that are helpful in the identification of each species. These include guard cell area, stomatal index and frequency, presence or absence of trichomes, types of trichomes, as well as their length on epidermal surfaces and wall types. These results, therefore suggest diagnostic features that were found on the epidermal surface that can be employed to justify the separation of the new genera Senna and Chamaecrista from their initial genus Cassia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]