MICROMORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE NARROW ENDEMIC SILENE SYTNIKII (CARYOPHYLLACEAE) COMPARED WITH CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES

Abstract

Silene sytnikii Krytzka, Novosad et Protopopova is a local endemic species of the Ukrainian flora, which sometimes is considered as a synonym to the S. frivaldszkyana Hampe from the Balkans and is related to the widespread species S. chlorantha (Willd.) Ehrh. The aim of the present study is to investigate micromorphological features of seeds, pollen grains and leaf surface ultrastructure of foregoing species and make a comparison. Both light and scanning electron microscopy were used in the study. S. sytnikii and S. frivaldszkyana are slightly different in the size of exotesta cells and their anticlinal teeth in distal row of seeds, pollen diameter and microechinate number on the pore, size of leaf spinule, epidermal cells and stomata. S. chlorantha significantly differs from them by smaller seeds and exotesta cells, and also longer leaf spinules. Thus, S. sytnikii and S. frivaldszkyana are quite similar in their micromorphology, while S. chlorantha is clearly distinct from them.

Keywords

• seed, pollen grain, leaf surface, SEM.