Variations in the fruit morphological features ofCapsicum annuumvarieties were studied. Varieties studied include var.abbreviatum, var.annuum, var.accuminatum, var.grossum, and var.glabriusculum. The fruit morphology revealed attenuated fruit shape with rounded surfaces in var.glabriusculum, and cordate fruit shape with flexuous surface in var.annuum,abbreviatumandaccuminatum. The fruit is a berry and may be green, yellow, or red when ripe. The fruit epidermal cell-wall patterns are polygonal in shape with straight and curved anticlinal walls in all the five varieties. The fruit of var.abbreviatumand var.grossumis trilocular, while that of var.accuminatumandannuumis bilocular, and that of var.glabriusculumis tetralocular.Capsicum annuumvar.glabriusculumhad the highest mean number of seeds (108.4) and var.annuumhad the lowest number of seeds (41.3) per fruit. The fruit is conspicuously hollowed in var.glabriusculum,accuminatum, andannuumbut inconspicuously hollowed in var.abbreviatumand var.grossum. These features are shown to be good taxonomic characters for delimiting the five varieties ofCapsicum annuum.

Morphological parameters of several Jatropha species, namely Jatropha curcas L., Jatropha gossypifolia L., Jatropha podagrica Hook., Jatropha integerrima Jacq. and Jatropha multifida L. were subjected to quantitative analysis within the present study. Twelve traits of the leaves, fruits and seeds were analysed: leaf length, leaf width, leaf length/width ratio, petiole length, petiole width, fruit length, fruit width, fruit length/width ratio, seed length, seed width, fruit stalk length and fruit stalk width were subjected to Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. Highly significant positive correlations have been noted, while negative correlation was observed between leaf width and leaf length/width ratio, fruit width and leaf length/width ratio. Traits such as leaf length, leaf width and leaf length/width ratio contributed significantly along with other traits to discriminate the studied Jatropha species.  J. podagrica and J. integerrima were found to have more similarities, with a stronger coefficient of agglomeration (69.072) than J. curcas and J. podagrica with 315.028 coefficient of agglomeration respectively. The generated dendrogram showed the relationship between the studied Jatropha species, whereas great affinity was noted between J. podagrica and J. multifida as compared with J. gossypifolia and J. integerrima which are distantly related. The closeness observed between J. podagrica and J. multifida is in line with their current sub-generic grouping.

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Morphological parameters of several Jatropha species, namely Jatropha curcas L., Jatropha gossypifolia L., Jatropha podagrica Hook., Jatropha integerrima Jacq. and Jatropha multifida L. were subjected to quantitative analysis within the present study. Twelve traits of the leaves, fruits and seeds were analysed: leaf length, leaf width, leaf length/width ratio, petiole length, petiole width, fruit length, fruit width, fruit length/width ratio, seed length, seed width, fruit stalk length and fruit stalk width were subjected to Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. Highly significant positive correlations have been noted, while negative correlation was observed between leaf width and leaf length/width ratio, fruit width and leaf length/width ratio. Traits such as leaf length, leaf width and leaf length/width ratio contributed significantly along with other traits to discriminate the studied Jatropha species. J. podagrica and J. integerrima were found to have more similarities, with a stronger coefficient of agglomeration (69.072) than J. curcas and J. podagrica with 315.028 coefficient of agglomeration respectively. The generated dendrogram showed the relationship between the studied Jatropha species, whereas great affinity was noted between J. podagrica and J. multifida as compared with J. gossypifolia and J. integerrima which are distantly related. The closeness observed between J. podagrica and J. multifida is in line with their current sub-generic grouping.

This study was conducted to evaluate the growth response of three leafy vegetables (Celosia argentea, Amaranthus cruentus and Amaranthus hypochodriacus) to the leaf extract of Vitellaria paradoxa. Forty-five (45) experimental plastic containers were filled with 5 kg of loamy soil each and randomly allocated to the following regimes: control, 20 g, 40 g, 60 g and 80 g of powdered leaves of V. paradoxa, in three (3) replicates for each test crop respectively. It was observed that the response of the three leafy vegetables, grown within different composition of V. paradoxa leaves, are concentration dependent with respect to the studied growth parameters (plant height, leaf number, leaf area, stem girth). This indicated that V. paradoxa has allelopathic potential on the studied vegetables and therefore it could be used for natural weed control.

Adulteration of honey and bee-breads in the markets are becoming a matter of deep corncern. The aim of this study, therefore, is to authenticate the natural sources of the honey and bee breads produced by the University of Ilorin Apiary Farm and Jatropha Plantation. A microscopic survey of some pollen breads collected from the Apiary Farm of 6 colonies and Jatropha Plantation of one colony at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria revealed the presence of 9 types of pollens in honey-breads or bee-breads produced by the bees in the area under study. These pollen types include monoporate, salcate, triporate, tricolpate, pericolpate, panporate, biporate, salcate and vesculate. Monorate, colpate, triporate and panporate pollen types are the most frequent occuring in all colonies, followed by salcate, biporate and tricolpate. The least frequent types are pericolpate and vesculate pollens occuring only in the colony A. Density of each of these pollens were also determined in each colony. Some impurities were detected in colonies B, C and E. Panporate pollen of Jatropha curcas is of high frequency in the colony of Jatropha indicating that honeybees visit the Jatropha plants more frequently. So, the honey from the plantation might contain high percentage of panporate pollens. The honey produced at the Apiary and Jatropha Plantation at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria is based on this study. A polyfloral or multifloral type rather than unifloral or monofloral because it contains many types of pollen indicating its source from more than one plant sources or more than one nectars of different entomophilous plants exhibiting the presence of some anemophilous pollens.

Valor taxonómico de la micromorfología de la hoja y la fitoquímica cuantitativa de Jatropha integerrima Jacq. y Jatropha podagrica Hook. (Euphorbiaceae)-conocidas plantas hortícolas en NigeriaSe examinó la micromorfología y la fitoquímica cuantitativa de J. integerrima y J. podagrica para para identificar caracteres útiles para la delimitación taxonómica, siguiendo protocolos estandarizados, descritos por autores anteriores. Ambas especies son hipostó-micas (paracíticas). Los tricomas (multicelulares, no glandulares) estaban presentes sólo en la superficie adaxial de J. integerrrima y ausentes en otras superficies epidérmicas. Los análisis fitoquímos también señalaron pequeñas diferencias en la cantidad de compuestos bioactivos presentes en ambas especies. El contenido de fenol es el mayoritario en ambas especies: 37.65% en J. integerrima y 36.13% en J. podagrica. Las semejanzas y diferencias de los caracteres epidérmico-foliares y contenidos fitoquímicos pueden ser empleadas para delimitar taxonomicamente ambas especies.Palabras clave: Jatropha, Microcaracteres, Fitoquímica, Taxonomía. AbstractThe leaf micro-morphology and quantitative phytochemistry of J. integerrima and J. podagrica were examined to find useful characters for the delimitation of taxa, following standard protocols as described by previous authors. Both species are hypostomatic (paracytic). Trichome (multicellular, non-glandular) are only present on the adaxial surface of J. integerrima and absent in other epidermal surfaces. Phytochemical analysis also showed little differences in the amount of bioactive compounds present in both species. Phenol contents are the highest in the two species: 37.65% in J. integerrima and 36.13% in J. podagrica. The similarities and differences in the foliar epidermal characters and phytochemical content can be used to delimit the two studies species, as taxonomic characters.

Anatomical studies were carried out on the leaves, stems and roots of Amaranthus hybridus subjected to irrigation of 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% concentrations of pharmaceutical effluents to identify the responses of this plant to the treatment. Leaf structures of A. hybridus showed no significant change due to the effect of the effluents. Significant reduction was observed in the trichome density and number of epidermal cells at the adaxial surface as from the 20% effluent concentration upward (p