Seedling Morphology of some selected members of Commelinaceae and its bearing in taxonomic studies

Authors

  • Animesh Bose Department of Botany, Vidyasagar College, 39 Sankar Ghosh Lane, Kolkata 700006, West Bengal, India
  • Nandadulal Paria Taxonomy & Biosystematics Laboratory, Centre of Advanced Study, Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, 35, Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata 700019, West Bengal, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2019.6.2.527

Keywords:

Seedling Morphology;, Commelinaceae;, Identification;, Phylogeny;, Synapomorphies

Abstract

Seedling morphology of eight species from four genera of the family Commelinaceae viz. Commelina appendiculata C.B. Clarke, C. benghalensis L., C. caroliniana Walter, C. paludosa Blume, Cyanotis axillaris (L.) D. Don ex Sweet, C. cristata (L.) D. Don, Murdannia nudiflora (L.) Brenan and Tradescantia spathacea Sw. are investigated using both light and scanning electron microscopy. The seedling morphological features explored include germination pattern, seed shape, surface and hilum, root system, cotyledon type, cotyledonary hyperphyll (apocole), cotyledonary hypophyll (cotyledonary sheath), hypocotyl, first leaf and subsequent leaves. All taxa studied had hypogeal and remote tubular cotyledons. However, differences in cotyledon structure (apocole, cotyledonary sheath), seed, hypocotyl, internodes, first leaf and subsequent leaves were observed. Variations of those characters were used to prepare an identification key for the investigated taxa. Commelina spp. and Murdannia nudiflora of the tribe Commelineae were found to differ from Cyanotis spp. and Tradescantia spathacea of tribe Tradescantieae in the petiolate first leaf with papillate margins on upper surface with 6-celled stomata and the glabrous epicotyl. The presence of an elongated cotyledonary sheath, long apocole and extended periblast region appear to be synapomorphies for Commelina spp. and T. spathacea. The affinity of the investigated taxa as revealed through multivariate analysis supports some of the relationships inferred by pollen morphology, floral morphology and DNA (rbc-L, 5S NTS, trnL-trnF) data stated by previous authors.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

1. Takhtajan AL. Flowering plants, 2nd ed. Leipzig: Springer 2009.

2. Faden RB. Commelinaceae. In: Kubitzki K. (ed.) The families and genera of vascular plants IV. Springer Verlag, Berlin 1998;p. 109-128.

3. Evans TM, Faden RB, Simpson MG, Sytsma KJ. Phylogenetic relationships in Commelinaceae: I, a cladistic analysis of morphological data. Systematic Botany 2000;25:668-691. https://10.2307/2666727

4. Evans TM, Sytsma KJ, Faden RB, Givnish TJ. Phylogenetic Relationships in the Commelinaceae: II. A Cladistic Analysis of rbcL Sequences and Morphology. Systematic Botany 2003;28 (2):270-292. https://doi.org/10.1043/0363-6445-28.2.270

5. Woodson RE. Commentary on the North American genera of Commelinaceae. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 1942;29:141-154. https://10.2307/2394315

6. Brenan JPM. The classification of Commelinaceae. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 1966;59:349-370. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.1966.tb00068.x

7. Faden RB, Hunt DR. The Classification of the Commelinaceae. Taxon 1991;40 (1):19-31. https://10.2307/1222918

8. De Vogel EF. Seedlings of Dicotyledons. Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation (PUDOC), Wageningen 1980.

9. Tillich HJ. Ancestral and derived character states in seedlings of monocotyledons. In: Wilson KL, Morrison DA. (eds.) Monocots: Systematics and evolution. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000;p. 221-228.

10. Paria ND. Botanical research in India in the domain of seedling morphology in relation to taxonomy. Science and Culture 2014;80 (9-10):262-270.

11. Boyd L. Monocotylous seedlings. Morphological studies in the post-seminal development of the embryo. Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society Edinburgh 1932;31:5-224.

12. Bates JC. Seed Germination and Development of the Seedling in Commelina virginica. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 1939;42:109-112.

13. Tillich HJ. Seedling diversity and the homologies of seedling organs in the order Poales (Monocotyledons). Annals of Botany 2007;100:1413-1429. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcm238

14. Jain SK, Rao RR. A handbook of field and herbarium technique. Today and Tomorrow Publishers, New Delhi, India 1977.

15. Barthlott W. Epidermal and seed surface characters of plants: Systematic applicability and some evolutionary aspects. Nordic Journal of Botany 1981;1:345-355. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-1051.1981.tb00704.x

16. Barthlott W, Neinhuis C, Cutler D, Ditsch F, Meusel I, Theisen I, Wilhelmi H. Classification and terminology of plant epicuticular waxes. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 1998;126(3):237-260. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.1998.tb02529.x

17. Minitab Inc. 2013. Minitab 17 statistical software. Coventry: Minitab Inc. Available from: http://www.minitab.com/en-US/products/minitab/default.aspx.

18. Bojnansky V, Fargasova A. Atlas of seeds and fruits of Central and East-European Flora. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands 2007.

19. Gandhi D, Albert S, Pandya N. Handbook on the morphology of common grasses. Apple Academic Press, Inc. Canada 2016.

20. Tomlinson PB. Commelinales-Zingiberales. In: Metcalfe CR. (ed.) Anatomy of the monocotyledons III. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1969;p. 12-63.

21. Martius CFP Von. Historia Naturalis Palmarum, Vol. 1: Palmas Generatim Tractat. München 1823.

22. Tillich HJ. Seedling diversity in Araceae and its systematic implications. Feddes Repertorium 2003;114:454-487. https://doi.org/10.1002/fedr.200311010

23. Rowley JR. The fine structure of the pollen wall in the Commelinaceae. Grana Palynologica 1959;2 (1):3-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/00173135909431974

24. Poole MM, Hunt DR. Pollen morphology and the taxonomy of the Commelinaceae: An Exploratory Survey: American Commelinaceae: VIII. Kew Bulletin 1980;34 (4):639-660. https://10.2307/4119061

25. Burns JH, Faden RB, Steppan SC. Phylogenetic Studies in the Commelinaceae Subfamily Commelinoideae Inferred from Nuclear Ribosomal and Chloroplast DNA Sequences. Systematic Botany 2011;36 (2):268-276. https://doi.org/10.1600/036364411X569471

Downloads

Published

17-05-2019

How to Cite

1.
Bose A, Paria N. Seedling Morphology of some selected members of Commelinaceae and its bearing in taxonomic studies. Plant Sci. Today [Internet]. 2019 May 17 [cited 2024 Nov. 23];6(2):218-31. Available from: https://horizonepublishing.com/journals/index.php/PST/article/view/527

Issue

Section

Research Articles