SEM-Based Foliar Micromorphology for Taxonomic Delimitation of Selected Herbaceous Species

This study represents the first comprehensive effort to document the pollen taxonomy of plant species in the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalaya region of northern Pakistan. The clarification of the leaf micromorphology of the selected herbaceous plants reveals characteristics like the stomata types, trichome types, and epidermal cell size and shape. The leaf micromorphology of 50 herbaceous plants revealed foliar anatomical traits, such as changes in epidermal cells, trichome morphology, and stomatal type. Stachys emodi has the longest epidermal cell length, measuring 69.54um at the adaxial and 66.65um at the abaxial surface. The largest guard cell length was recorded as 36.45 μm in Erigeron bonariensis , while the stomatal width measured 36.15 μm on the abaxial surface and 34.55 μm on the adaxial surface among the studied Asteraceous taxa. In anatomical features, diacytic, actinocytic, anomocytic, anisocytic, and paracytic stomata were studied. Anticlinal wall patterns were found to be undulating, straight, and sinuate. The epidermal cell shape was found to be polygonal, pentagonal, tetragonal, and irregular. The micromorphological epidermal anatomical traits have been recognized to serve as a foundation for the correct identification of herbaceous flora in the context of systematic relevance.