Investigating the Morphology and Anatomy of Vegetative Organs and Micromorphology of Seeds in some Selected Species of Malvaceae

Abstract

Abstract The Malvaceae family is one of the most important families of flowering plants which has been considered for its economical and medicinal applications. The present study investigated 96 quantitative and qualitative characters from leaf, petiole, stem morphology/anatomy, and seed micromorphology. Cluster analysis WARD and PCA were done in R software. The results showed that all species of Malva, Alcea, and Abutilon were classified in a major cluster and closed to Hibiscus species. Hibiscus esculentus and Gossypium hirsutum united with them in separate clusters. The separation of these species from the others was consistent with previous studies. The results of the morphological analysis showed that the leaf outline, the shape, and the number of epicalyx segments, the shape, and the size of flowers and petals, fruit type, and inflorescence type were different among species. Anatomical characteristics such as the presence/absence, size of glandular and non-glandular trichomes, variation in vascular bundles status, the presence/absence of mucilaginous ducts in the parenchyma of leaf, petiole, and stem varied from one species to another. Seed micromorphology showed that shape, surface, hairy/glabrous strophiole, and seed size were significant characters for genera and species delimitation. It seems that the formation of such groups is the result of environmental adaptation and homoplasy.

Keywords

• cluster analysis
• morphology
• micromorphology
• malvaceae
• seed surface