Taxonomic implications of foliar epidermal characteristics in subfamily Alsinoideae (Caryophyllaceae)

This paper is the first report on the foliar epidermal anatomy of 18 species of subfamily Alsinoideae (Caryophyllaceae) using light microscopy (LM). The studied species occur in different eco climatic zones of Pakistan ranges from tropical, subtropical and moist habitats. Members of Alsinoideae contain taxonomically complex genera including Arenaria, Cerastium, Minuartia, Sagina and Stellaria. Leaf micromorphlogical characters described here are related to shape of epidermal cells, anticlinal wall pattern, stomatal complex, subsidiary cells and trichomes. In addition to this number of quantitative measurement were taken about the size of epidermal cells, stomata size, subsidiary cell size, and trichomes. Nearly most of the studied species have diacytic stomata but some species have paracytic, anomocytic and anisocytic stomatal type. Most of the studied species have irregular epidermal cells, but some species have tetragonal, wavy, elongated and polygonal cell shapes. Foliar epidermal anatomy of Alsinoideae recommends their application as baseline data coupled with taxonomic data extracted through multiple approaches can be used as an aid in delimitation and differentiation of closely related taxa in order to achieve the best use of anatomical features. An identification taxonomic key using micromorphological characters is provided to distinguish species and genera.