Stomatal and anatomical leaf characteristics of 10 Populus clones

Abstract

Stomatal characteristics (frequency and length of stomata on adaxial and abaxial leaf surface) and anatomical characteristics (thickness of epidermal, palisade, and spongy layers) of field-grown plants of Populus clones, six of American, two of European, and two of Euramerican origin, were studied. All clones except one were amphistomatous and all clones had most stomata on the abaxial leaf surface. In all clones the spongy parenchyma layer was thicker than the palisade layer. Stomatal and anatomical characteristics varied significantly among clones. Both cluster analysis and principal-component analysis, utilizing mean clonal values of stomatal and anatomical characters as independent variables, indicated that these characteristics were related to place of origin and to parentage. Different groupings of the clones were observed on the basis of abaxial stomatal length and total stomatal frequency. Abaxial and mean stomatal length were significantly correlated with yield (represented by stem volume data), but relationships between other characteristics and yield were not significant.