Exploring the taxonomic relevance: foliar epidermal microanatomy of aromatic and medicinal plants within subfamily Nepetoideae

Abstract

The micromorphology of epidermal cells, different types of trichomes, and stomatal complex were used to describe leaf epidermal traits. Light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to thoroughly analyze the foliar anatomical features of 33 taxa of aromatic and medicinal plants of sub family Nepetoideae. To accurately identify the subfamily taxa, the present study evaluates the leaf anatomical characteristics. The statistical data were used for better understanding the results. The qualitative characters for example, epidermal cells are mostly irregular and polygonal. Aromatic essential oils, saponins, organic acids and tannins are the medical constituents of the Nepetoideae. The highest epidermal cell length at adaxial surfaces was found in Ocimumbasilicum (102 µm). Four types of stomata were examined; i.e., anomocytic, diacytic anisocytic and paracytic. The largest stomata length at abaxial surface was observed in Mentha × piperita (39 µm). In the current study, non-glandular trichomes (NGTs) and glandular trichomes (GTs) were investigated. NGTs were mostly branched, unicellular- multicellular with long falcate, short hook, conical and clavate. GTs were divided into sessile and sub sessile capitate and large peltate. Using SEM and LM, significant variation was found in both quantitative and qualitative traits. Unique ornamentation was seen in the variety of trichomes. Unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) cluster analysis and principal component analysis were used to describe, depict, and compare the quantitative foliar anatomical characters of all the species. A dichotomous key has been created for rapid and simple identification using qualitative characteristics. The current research adds to the systematic approach by accurately identifying Nepetoideae taxa and employing foliar anatomical traits.

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Vol.: (0123456789)
Genet Resour Crop Evol (2025) 72:4005–4055
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-024-02179-w
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Exploring thetaxonomic relevance: foliar epidermal
microanatomy ofaromatic andmedicinal plants
withinsubfamily Nepetoideae
ShaistaJabeen· MuhammadZafar· MushtaqAhmad· SaeedahMusaedAlmutairi·
MohamedSolimanElshikh· TrobjonMakhkamov· SokhibIslamov· SyedWaseemGillani·
MuhammadManzoor
Received: 6 March 2024 / Accepted: 1 September 2024 / Published online: 7 October 2024
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024
Abstract The micromorphology of epidermal cells,
different types of trichomes, and stomatal complex
were used to describe leaf epidermal traits. Light
microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) were used to thoroughly analyze the foliar ana-
tomical features of 33 taxa of aromatic and medicinal
plants of sub family Nepetoideae. To accurately iden-
tify the subfamily taxa, the present study evaluates
the leaf anatomical characteristics. The statistical data
were used for better understanding the results. The
qualitative characters for example, epidermal cells
are mostly irregular and polygonal. Aromatic essen-
tial oils, saponins, organic acids and tannins are the
medical constituents of the Nepetoideae. The highest
epidermal cell length at adaxial surfaces was found in
Ocimum basilicum (102µm). Four types of stomata
were examined;i.e., anomocytic, diacytic anisocytic
and paracytic. The largest stomata length at abaxial
surface was observed in Mentha × piperita (39µm).
In the current study, non-glandular trichomes (NGTs)
and glandular trichomes (GTs) were investigated.
NGTs were mostlybranched, unicellular- multicellu-
lar with long falcate, short hook, conical and clavate.
GTs were divided into sessile and sub sessile capitate
and large peltate. Using SEM and LM, significant
variation was found in both quantitative and quali-
tative traits. Unique ornamentation was seen in the
variety of trichomes. Unweighted pair group method
with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) cluster analysis and
principal component analysis were used to describe,
depict, and compare the quantitative foliar anatomical
characters of all the species. A dichotomous key has
been created for rapid and simple identification using
qualitative characteristics. The current research adds
to the systematic approach by accurately identifying
Nepetoideae taxa and employing foliar anatomical
traits.
Keywords Foliar anatomy· Mentheae· SEM·
Stomatal complex· Trichome types· PCA
S.Jabeen· M.Zafar(*)· M.Ahmad· S.W.Gillani·
M.Manzoor
Department ofPlant Sciences, Quaid-I-Azam University,
Islamabad45320, Pakistan
e-mail: zafar@qau.edu.pk
S.M.Almutairi· M.S.Elshikh
Department ofBotany andMicrobiology, College
ofScience, King Saud University, P.O. 2455,
11451Riyadh, SaudiArabia
T.Makhkamov
Department ofForestry andLandscape Design,
Tashkent State Agrarian University, 2 A., Universitet Str,
100700KibrayDistrict, TashkentRegion, Uzbekistan
S.Islamov
Department ofTechnology ofStorage andProcessing
ofAgricultural Products, Tashkent State Agrarian
University, 2 A., Universitet Str, 100700KibrayDistrict,
TashkentRegion, Uzbekistan
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