Morphological and anatomical studies on a rare species Rhamnus depressa (Rhamnaceae): ıts differences from R. microcarpa

Abstract

We focused on the micromorphological and anatomical properties of Rhamnus depressa, in here for the first time. In this study, morphologic-micromorphologic, wood, and leaf characteristics of R. depressa, rare species and known only from the type locality, were described and evaluated comparatively with R. microcarpa. This study reveals several morphological and anatomical characteristics that can be used in differentiating R. depressa and R. microcarpa, i.e petiole length, leaf sizes, and numbers of bud scale, seed, and leaf veins, ray characteristics in wood, amphistomatic stomata, horse shoes vascular bundle in the petiole, one vascular bundle or two vascular bundles with sclerenchymatous cells in phloem part, as well as epidermis micromorphological characteristics. Especially, stomatal characteristic which found both on the two leaf surfaces (amphistomatic) is significantly important and can be used to differentiate these two closely related species.