Foliar Micromorphology of Subtribe Ischaemineae, Tribe Andropogoneae, Family Poaceae

Leaf epidermal features are very important in grass systematics for characterization of broad groups, within subfamilies and tribes. Numerous species belonging to sub-tribe Ischaemineae, tribe Andropogoneae, family Poaceae are endemic to the Indian subcontinent, but their micromorphological reports were very scares. Therefore, foliar micromorphological characters of subtribe Ischaemineae have been studied in detail for 16 taxa of subtribe Ischaemineae from Gujarat, India. All the epidermal peels were prepared after following routine scraping method, representative areas were photographed and presented here. Structural diversity as well as metric values for both the epidermises has been recorded. In general, intercostals zones and costal zones are uniform in nature in terms of sinuous papillate long cells, cross-dumbbell-nodular shaped silica cells and triangular-low domed shaped subsidiary cells on stomata. From all the studied micromorphological characters, papillae and microhairs are found to be most useful character to segregate species and genera in subtribe Ischaemineae. Additionally, intercostal silica bodies, hooks, prickles and bulliform cells are also found to be helpful for the same. An artificial key based on observed variable micromorphological features has been also prepared.