TITLE:
Taxonomic Significance of Anatomical Characters in Some Species of the Family Myrtaceae
AUTHORS:
Taha Y. Al-Edany, Sahar A. A. Malik Al-Saadi
KEYWORDS:
Myrtaceae; Plant; Anatomy; Stem; Leaves
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.3 No.5,
May
30,
2012
ABSTRACT: This paper elaborated the epidermis properties, transverse sections of leaves, petioles and stems of five cultivated spe-cies belong to five genera of Myrtaceae. They are Callistemon viminalis (Sol. ex Gaertn.) G. Don, Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh., Myrtus communis L., Psidium guajava L. and Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. It was clear that certain structural characteristics were of significant impor-tance in separation of these taxa, such as the presence of hypodermis in the leaves of P. guajava, the absence of stomata from the abaxial surface of leaves of C. viminalis and P. guajava, the isobilateral mesophyll in C. viminalis and E. camaldulensis leaves, the wavy transverse section of stem in C. viminalis, the presence of more than one vascular strand in S. aromaticum petioles as well as the presence of prismatic crystals in addition to the druses in the petioles of P. guajava.