Foliar epidermal anatomy and its taxonomic implications within the family Euphorbiaceae in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria
Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
Research Article
International Journal of Frontiers in Life Science Research, 2021, 01(01), 048–055.
Article DOI: 10.53294/ijflsr.2021.1.1.0036
Publication history:
Received on 18 April 2021; revised on 18 May 2021; accepted on 21 May 2021
Abstract:
Micro-morphological investigations of the foliar epidermal anatomy of seven species of the family Euphorbiaceae: Acalypha hispidia Burm. f., A. wilkesiana Mull. Arg, Euphorbia heterophylla L., E. hirta L., Jatropha curcas L., J. gossypifolia L. and Manihot esculenta Crantz was carried out to assess the systematic relevance of epidermal features, stomata and trichome diversity within the family using light microscope and camera. Members of this family contain many important medicinal herbs and there has been increasing misidentification of species in this family. Leaf micro-morphological characteristics are commonly used in the identification and authentication of plants. Results showed that the stomatal index varied from species to species. Epidermal cell shapes were found to be irregular to polygonal on both surfaces of the species. The epidermal cells possess straight to undulating anticlinal walls but in some few cases exhibited wavy to straight anticlinal walls. The presence of papillae was observed to be a unique character of E. heterophylla among the species studied. The stomatal types observed were Anisocytic, Anomocytic, Diacytic, tetracytic, paracytic, and actinocytic. The stomatal complex was mainly amphistomatic except for A. wilkesiana that was hypostomatic. The hypostomatic character of A. wilkesiana as reported in this paper is the first of such report as previous report found was amphistomatic. Non-glandular, multiseriate uniseriate and in some cases branched trichome types were observed only on both surfaces of A. wilkesiana and E. hirta but absent on all other studied species. This study revealed detailed descriptive micromorphological structures which could serve as a source of information and reference for the taxonomic description, identification and delineation of the species studied.
Keywords:
Acalypha; Euphorbia; Euphorbiaceae; Jatropha; Manihot; Micro- morphology
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