Seed sculpture of Polish species of the genus Plantago L.

Abstract

The paper presents results of research on seed sculpture of Plantago major, P. intermedia, P. media, P. coronopus subsp. coronopus, P. maritima subsp. maritima, P. atrata subsp. carpatica, P. lanceolata and P. arenaria. Special attention was paid to the sculpture of the external layer of the testa. Observations were made under a light microscope and a scanning electron microscope. The sculpture typical for each species was presented in micrographs. The results indicate that seed sculpture is a very good interspecific identification feature. The study also confirmed that P. maritima should not be assigned to the section Coronopus DC., but to a separate section Maritima Rahn.

Keywords

• Plantaginaceae
• Plantago
• seed sculpture
• SEM
• LM