Taxonomic significance of morphology and palynology of two species of Dracaena found in south eastern Nigeria

Chinyere Ilodibia,Clement Okeke,Bibian Aziagba,Nneka Okeke,Maureen Chukwuma,Ebele Akachukwu

doi:10.14419/ijbr.v3i1.3737

Abstract

Morphology and Palynology were carried out on Dracaena mannii Bak and Dracaena arborea Link various parts. T test was used for the analyses. Morphologically, the leaves of D. arborea are longer and wider than those of D. mannii, and the length of the internode of D. arborea is more than those of the D. mannii. Both species are trees and have the same inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed Morphology. Palynologically, the pollen grains of the two species are monocolpate with scabrate surfaces. The colpus in D. mannii is longer than that of D. arborea. The result also showed that there was no significant difference in the sizes of the pollen grains, the pollen form indices as well as length and diameter of the colpi of both D. arborea and D. mannii. The overall analyses showed no significant statistical difference in the morpology and palynology of the two Dracaena species. The implication is that the two species are closely related and this justified their placement under the same genus Draceana while the slight differences between them suggest the reason for their separation into different species.

Highlights

The genus Dracaena L. belongs to family Agavaceae
The result showed that there was no significant difference in the sizes of the pollen grains, the pollen form indices as well as length and diameter of the colpi of both D. arborea and D. mannii
Dracaena arborea Link. and Dracaena mannii Bak. which are commonly found in south eastern Nigeria are the points of interest in this research

Summary

Introduction

The genus Dracaena L. belongs to family Agavaceae. The genus Dracaena consists of about 50 – 80 species native primarily to the old world tropics (Judd et al, 1998). As taxonomic lines of evidence to determine their similarities and differences in order to group them into various taxa. Dracaena mannii and Draceana arborea are grouped into the genus Draceana based on their similarities and into different species based on differences. Palynological characters have been used in solving several taxonomic problems, including the repositioning of several disputed taxa, and interpretation of problems relating to the origin and evolution of different groups. Determination of these differences and similarities with regards to morphology and palynology of the two species based on the outcome of the study were the objectives of this research

Methods

Results

Conclusion