Elevation-related macro- and micromorphological leaves' structure of some species of the genus Phaedranassa Ravenna (Amaryllidaceae)

• Main Authors: A.I. Zhila, M.M. Marinyuk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: NAS of Ukraine, M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden 2017-12-01
• Series: Інтродукція Рослин
• Subjects: Phaedranassa cinerea Ravenna; P. dubia (Kunth) J.F. Macbr.; P. tunguraguae Ravenna; leaf; epidermis; stoma
• Online Access: http://plantintroduction.org/index.php/pi/article/view/47
• ISSN: 1605-6574; 2663-290X

Objective – to investigate the epidermis of leaf blade in plants of 3 mountain species of the genus Phaedranassa Ravenna, differing by a high-altitude gradient location in the Andes. Material and methods. The objects of research are plants P. cinerea Ravenna, P. dubia (Kunth) J.F. Macbr., P. tunguraguae Ravenna. The transverse sections of leaves were made by a safety razor manually according to generally accepted methods. Morphometric reserches of the stomatal apparatus and subsidiary cells were conducted on epidermal imprints taken from living plants using the replica method with colorless nail polish. The study used light and scanning microscopes. For description of epidermal cells shape the classification of S.F. Zakharevich (1954) was used, for description of the respiratory apparatus the morphological classification of M.A. Baranova (1985) was used. Results. The leaf index of investigated species plants was determined. The relief of the leaf cuticular surface of each species on the abaxial and adaxial side was described. Data of shape, density and size of epidermal cells were submitted and analyzed. The stomatotype, the type of stomata on and in relation to the leaf surface, the density and size of stomata were determined. The formation of different stomatal clusters types in some Phaedranassa species was described. Conclusions. The Phaedranassa’s adaptation to the removable environment of highland is minimization of water loss by the deposition of wax on subsidiary cells during cuticular transpiration and by the formation of stomatal clusters affecting stomatal transpiration. In leaves of investigated plants the following changes were observed in accordance to the increase of each growth height: the leaf index decreases, the stomatal index increased. Also transition from the concave periclinal surface of epidermal cells on the abaxial side to the convex, transition from a nontypical for the Amaryllidaceae tetracite stomatotype to a typical anomocyte, transition from hypostomatic leaves to amphistomatic, the increase of stomata density on both leaf surfaces, the transition from protruding stomata to the stomata located in one level with an epidermis, transition of stomatal clusters from a “non-contiguous cluster” to a “contiguous cluster” type with polar contact of stomata were observed. The investigated Phaedranassa species have no dependence in the structure of the epidermis on the distribution of plants along the altitudinal gradient.