Abstract
Leaf epidermal features are very important in grass systematics for characterization of broad groups, within subfamilies and tribes. Numerous species belonging to sub-tribe Ischaemineae, tribe Andropogoneae, family Poaceae are endemic to the Indian subcontinent, but their micromorphological reports were very scares. Therefore, foliar micromorphological characters of subtribe Ischaemineae have been studied in detail for 16 taxa of subtribe Ischaemineae from Gujarat, India. All the epidermal peels were prepared after following routine scraping method, representative areas were photographed and presented here. Structural diversity as well as metric values for both the epidermises has been recorded. In general, intercostals zones and costal zones are uniform in nature in terms of sinuous papillate long cells, cross-dumbbell-nodular shaped silica cells and triangular-low domed shaped subsidiary cells on stomata. From all the studied micromorphological characters, papillae and microhairs are found to be most useful character to segregate species and genera in subtribe Ischaemineae. Additionally, intercostal silica bodies, hooks, prickles and bulliform cells are also found to be helpful for the same. An artificial key based on observed variable micromorphological features has been also prepared.
Highlights
Poaceae are the most diverse in their morphological features and are used for demarcating different genera and species, since Linnaeus (1753)
Metcalfe (1960) in his work pointed out that the epidermal characters are quite useful in systematics
Watson and Dallwitz (1992) have utilized data of abaxial leaf surfaces only at generic level. They have given the structural diversity as well as measurements of few epidermal characters including cells, nature of the walls, stomata, microhairs, silica bodies and papillae for abaxial leaf surfaces only. Their voluminous work did not pay any attention to some important epidermal ornamentation such as, prickles, hooks, and macrohairs as these characters are helpful for identification of certain genera and species
Summary
Poaceae are the most diverse in their morphological features and are used for demarcating different genera and species, since Linnaeus (1753). In addition to that, Watson and Dallwitz (1992) have utilized data of abaxial leaf surfaces only at generic level They have given the structural diversity as well as measurements of few epidermal characters including cells, nature of the walls, stomata, microhairs, silica bodies and papillae for abaxial leaf surfaces only. Their voluminous work did not pay any attention to some important epidermal ornamentation such as, prickles, hooks, and macrohairs as these characters are helpful for identification of certain genera and species
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