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LEAF EPIDERMAL ANATOMY OF SELECTED ALLIUM SPECIES, FAMILY ALLIACEAE FROM PAKISTAN

 ZUBAIDA YOUSAF¹, ZABTA KHAN SHINWARI², REHANA ASGHAR¹ AND ANJUM PARVEEN³

Abstract: Leaf epidermal anatomy of the selected Allium species showed variation in size and shape of stomatal cells, stomatal cavity, micro and macro hairs, trichomes, silica bodies and long cells. Leaf epidermal anatomy prooved a significant tool for the resolution of taxonomic confusions of the Allium species. Allium consanguineum had most diverse leaf epidermal anatomy. This species had longest stomatal cells (6-14 µm) and silca bodies (6-14 µm).  Presence of micro hairs is an important distinguishing character for A. carolianum, the length of micro hairs varies from 150-200 µm. Only dumb-bell shaped silica bodies were observed in 6 different species viz., A. dolichostylum, A. borszczewii, A. micranthum, A. consanguinem, A. stocksianum and A. stoliczki. Trichomes were present in A. barszczewksi, A. borszczowii, A. micranthum, A. lamondae, A. miserbile, A. longicollum, A. gilli and A. dolichostylum, Cluster analysis based on anatomical characters revealed that 18 species of the genus Allium were divided into 2 main clusters at the phylogenetic distance of 79%. Lower order classification of the genus Allium on the basis of anatomical characters is entirely different from morphological classification.

¹Department of Botany, University of Arid Agriculture Rawalpindi, Pakistan

²Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat and

³Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan