Open AccessMorphology and micromorphology of the seed coats of species of Echinodorus (Alismataceae) from Brazilian Northeastern
Author(s) -
Lígia Queiroz Matias,
Geraldo Luiz Gonçalves Soares
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
boletim do museu paraense emílio goeldi. ciências naturais
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2317-6237
pISSN - 1981-8114
DOI - 10.46357/bcnaturais.v4i2.663
Subject(s) - reticulate , morphology (biology) , biology , botany , zoology
The morphology and the micromorphological characteristics of the surface of seeds of ten species of Echinodorus Rich. & Engelm. ex. A. Gray which occurs in northeastern Brazil were examined using scanning electron microscopy. The diversity of the observed ornaments allowed to distinguish the seed testa of the studied species as follows: scalariform in E. pubescens (Martius) Seubert, tenuous ribbed in E. tenellus (Martius) Buchenau, tenuous reticulate in E. reticulatus Haynes & Holm-Nielsen, reticulate channeled in E. grandilforus (Chamisso & Schlechtendal) Micheli subsp. aureus (Fassett) Haynes & Holm-Nielsen, reticulated in E. glandulosus Rataj, reticulated-foveate in E. paniculatus Micheli and E. lanceolatus Rataj, and reticulated tenuous foveate in E. palaefolius (Nees & Martius) MacBride, E. subalatus (Martius) Grisebach and E. macrophyllus (Kunth) Micheli subsp. scaber (Rataj) Haynes & Holm-Nielsen. The complete description presents observations of the form of the component cells of the testa of these seeds, their anticlinal boundaries with respective cell junctions and cell wall thicknesses. The results suggest the importance of the seed micromorphology as a synthetic character to infra-generic classification of Echinodorus.