Open Access

ARTICLE

Stem and root anatomy of Mnesithea selloana (Hack.) de Koning & Sosef

Moya ME^1,2, AA Galussi^1,2, N Sattler², MS Fontana², YG Gillij^1,2

1 PID UNER 2132.
2 Cátedra Botánica Morfológica, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos. Ruta Prov. 11 Km 10,5 Oro Verde Dpto. Paraná, Entre Ríos.

Address correspondence to: M.E. Moya e-mail: ;

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2018, 87(all), 231-235. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2018.87.231

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the anatomy of stems and roots of Mnesithea selloana. Free hand cross sections were made from fresh material of reproductive stems and adventitious roots; they were colored with safranin and mounted on glycerin jelly. Observations were made using an Olympus CH2 light microscope and photographed. In cross section, the stems were circular towards the distal end of the synflorescence and semicircular toward the proximal end, and have two ribs. A uniseriate, continuous epidermis presenting a smooth and thick cuticle and no hairs was observed. Parenchyma cells increased in size towards the pith; they have slightly thickened walls close to the epidermis and thin, nonlignified walls near the pith. Vascular bundles formed an atactostele, with 3-4 concentric rings; externally, small bundles enclosed within a continuous ring of sclerenchyma, and toward the center larger bundles without the ring were observed. The pith was hollow. The roots presented rhizodermis with unicellular hairs, exodermis with markedly thickened walls, aerenchymatous parenchyma with well differentiated aeriferous spaces, and endodermal cells with markedly thickened inner tangential walls. The vascular cylinder presented a uniseriate pericycle, with polyarch structure exhibiting between 13 and 16 xylematic poles, and pithy parenchyma.

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Keywords

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