Environmental effect on the leaf morphology and anatomy of Berberis microphylla G. Forst

S RADICE; M ARENA

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PLANT BIOLOGY

PAGEPRESS

Lugar: Pavia; Año: 2015 vol. 6 p. 1 - 7

. microphylla cloned plants have been introduced from Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego) to the Buenos Aires province in order to evaluate its phenotypic plasticity and the possibility of fruit production. At the same time, a comparative study on the morphology and anatomy of the mature leaves of B. microphylla grown in two different environmental conditions was carry out. Moreno leaves were significantly larger than Ushuaia leaves in all the morphological parameters registered, while Ushuaia leaves were more circular than Moreno leaves with the highest roundness and elongation indexes. Nevertheless, histological sections showed that Ushuaia leaves have one more layer of palisade cells respect to Moreno leaves. Ushuaia leaves show palisade cells higher, abaxial epidermal cells larger and cuticles thicker than Moreno leaves. Stomata density is superior on Moreno leaves. SEM of abaxial epidermis shows a surface with numerous ridges of different forms that prevent the layout of epidermal cells on Moreno leaves. Appearance of this surface is glossy and oily. On the contrary, epidermal cells are well recognized on Ushuaia leaves. Anomocytic type of stomata is observed and surface looks waxy. Auto-fluorescence on leaf cross sections were observed on the vascular bundles and partially on the epidermis cells.