The morphology of hairs in species of Plantago L. Sections: Novorbis Decne and Mesembrynia Decne

Abstract

This paper is a continuation of the investigation of hairs in representatives of various sections of the genus Plantago L.(Andrzejewska-Golec and Świętosławski 1987, 1988, 1989 a, b, 1991, in press 2). It deals with the species of the related sections: Novorbis Decne (3 species) and Mesembrynia Decne (5 species). The investigated taxa of both sections have one type of headed hair (typical of the representatives of the genus Plantago) as well as three types of headless hairs: 1) 1-3-celled-bristle-shaped, 2) consisting of several cells, and 3) multicellular-web-like. Only slight differences between the hairs of the investigated taxa of sections Novorbis and Mesembrynia were noticed. The hairs of the representatives of these sections are also similar to the hairs of representatives of another section, related to those mentioned above, viz. Lamprosantha Decne (Andrzejewska-Golec and Świętosławski 1991).

Keywords

• genus Plantago L.
• sectio Novorbis Decne
• sectio Mesembrynia Decne
• hairs
• scanning electron microscopy