Micromorphology studies of three important medicinal plants of Asclepiadaceae family

Aruna G Joshi,Ashutosh R Pathak,Vinay M Raole,Swati R Patel

doi:10.15835/nsb12110528

Aruna G Joshi, Ashutosh R Pathak + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.15835/nsb12110528

Copy DOI

Abstract

Asclepiadaceae family contains many medicinally important species of which Hemidesmus indicus, Leptadenia reticulata and Tylophora india were selected for the present micromophological studies. It was revealed that different types of stomata like anomocytic, anisocytic and paracytic were present only on abaxial surfaces of leaves. However maximum anomocytic stomata i.e. 25.50±0.43 were observed in L. reticulata followed by H. indicus (24.54±0.31) and T. indica (11.36±0.16). Similarly, observation for trichomes revealed that they were present on abaxial surface in H. indicus and T. indica whereas in L. reticulata on both of the surfaces present. They varied in their type as unicellular in H. indicus whereas multicellular trichomes in L. reticulata and T. indica. This different micromorphological characters will help in identification of authentic plant species.

Highlights

Medicinal plants are a source of therapeutic drugs for the treatment of various ailments and diseases
Stomatal index 24.54±0.31 were measured for abaxial surface of epidermis (Table 1)
In H. indicus and T. indica only paracytic stomata were observed on abaxial surface with polygonal epidermal cells, similar observation was documented in T. asthmatica (Santhan, 2014)

Summary

Introduction

Medicinal plants are a source of therapeutic drugs for the treatment of various ailments and diseases. One of the major problems in traditional medicine is the species misidentification and substitution of the plants with closely related species poses the problem of adulteration which could be fatal to the consumers (Neelam et al, 2014). Investigating the morphological and anatomical characters of closely related species is an indispensable tool for the identification of correct plant material (Sonibare et al, 2014). Micromorphological characters such as stomata, trichome and epidermal cells are useful research tools in plant taxonomy, phylogeny and their applications in the identification of species which has been well recognized (Sonibare et al, 2014). Size, abundance, length and density are species specific and important characters in angiosperm taxonomy as well as in phylogenetic studies

Methods

Results

Conclusion