Foliar epidermal anatomy and its taxonomic implications within the family Euphorbiaceae in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Abstract

Micro-morphological investigations of the foliar epidermal anatomy of seven species of the family Euphorbiaceae: Acalypha hispidia Burm. f., A. wilkesiana Mull. Arg, Euphorbia heterophylla L., E. hirta L., Jatropha curcas L., J. gossypifolia L. and Manihot esculenta Crantz was carried out to assess the systematic relevance of epidermal features, stomata and trichome diversity within the family using light microscope and camera. Members of this family contain many important medicinal herbs and there has been increasing misidentification of species in this family. Leaf micro-morphological characteristics are commonly used in the identification and authentication of plants. Results showed that the stomatal index varied from species to species. Epidermal cell shapes were found to be irregular to polygonal on both surfaces of the species. The epidermal cells possess straight to undulating anticlinal walls but in some few cases exhibited wavy to straight anticlinal walls. The presence of papillae was observed to be a unique character of E. heterophylla among the species studied. The stomatal types observed were Anisocytic, Anomocytic, Diacytic, tetracytic, paracytic, and actinocytic. The stomatal complex was mainly amphistomatic except for A. wilkesiana that was hypostomatic. The hypostomatic character of A. wilkesiana as reported in this paper is the first of such report as previous report found was amphistomatic. Non-glandular, multiseriate uniseriate and in some cases branched trichome types were observed only on both surfaces of A. wilkesiana and E. hirta but absent on all other studied species. This study revealed detailed descriptive micromorphological structures which could serve as a source of information and reference for the taxonomic description, identification and delineation of the species studied.

Anatomical and histochemical characterization of some highly medicinal plants as a tool for quality control

“…In this family, there are around 300 genera and over 8000 species. In Pakistan, however, this family has 24 genera and 90 species (James et al, 2021). Ricinus communis L. locally called Arand is an erect, shrub or tree.…”