A systematic approach to the investigation of foliar epidermal anatomy of subfamily Caryophylloideae (Caryophyllaceae)

In present research work, 14 species belonging to 5 genera of subfamily Caryophylloideae (Caryophyllaceae) has been investigated for foliar epidermal anatomy using light microscope (LM). This study revealed that the micro-morphological features of subfamily are taxonomically significant in accurate identification of species. The plant species were collected from different phytogeographical regions of Pakistan and studied for both qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Both upper and lower epidermis of the leaf has been studied and various micromorphological characters examined including; shape of epidermal cells, anticlinal wall pattern, lobes per cell, type of stomata and trichomes. Out of 14 species, 8 have trichomes i.e. unicellular, multicellular and nonglandular. Twelve species have diacytic type of stomata, while two species Silene pseudo-verticellata and Vaccaria hispanica has anomocytic type of stomata. Keep in viewing of foliar epidermal characteristics and its diagnostic features taxonomic keys has been developed for easy and quick identification of species. The main objective of this research is to study qualitative and quantitative characters for the correct identification and species delimitation in subfamily Caryophylloideae. The foliar epidermal anatomy of subfamily shows valuable systematics information for identification of different species. The present findings of the foliar epidermal features are of special interest for plant taxonomists for the correct identification of species in subfamily Caryophylloideae (Caryophyllaceae). The micro-morphological features of foliar epidermal anatomy show many novel characters for accurate taxonomic identification and provide baseline information to plant taxonomists for further study