Comparative leaf anatomy of Alpinia species (Zingiberaceae) in Malaysia

Abstract

2005. Comparative leaf anatomy of AIpinia species (Zingiberaceae) in Malaysia. -Nord. J. Bot. 23: 463-483. Copenhagen. ISSN 0107-055X.The leaf anatomy of 22 Alpinia species from the Malay Peninsular was investigated. Results show that a combination of characters such as outlines of midribs, petioles, leaf margins and their relative sizes in transverse sections as well as the presence of hypodermal fibres in the lamina, midribs and petioles can be used in the identification of species. All four species of subsection AIIughas possess similar characters such as the presence of abaxial and adaxial fibres in the midrib and petioles and the absence of hypodermis in the lamina while the reverse is true for all species of subsection Catimbium. AIpinia conchigera and A. galanga appear to be closely related while A. oxymitra is distinct from all the species studied.

Phenetic and genetic characterization of selected economically important species in the family Zingiberaceae

“…However, in contrast to that A. calcarata has represented a separate evolutionary line according to the genetic information. According to results in this study vascular bundle arrangement in members of Zingiberaceae leaf petiole is observed in 'U' shape indicating close relationship within the family and in agreement with the findings of Talip et al, (2003). Vascular strand arrangement of C. speciosus showed flat arc with rib traces in leaf petiole which indicate distant evolutionary relationship with Zingiberaceae taxa.…”

“…Morphological characters are commonly used as a valuable tool in studying the development, population differentiation and systematics of plants nevertheless, morphological characters can be subjective (Vicente et al, 2005). Anatomical characters are more accurate compared to morphological characters as basic anatomical structures of a plant do not alter with environmental changes as morphological characters (Talip et al, 2003).…”

Leaf epidermal micromorphology of Zingiber (Zingiberaceae) from China and its systematic significance

“…Crystals are usually rhombohedral, rod-like or acicular, sometimes occurring in clusters that resemble a coarse sand, and are commonly found in the hypodermis of the lamina in families of Zingiberales, such as Musaceae, Cannaceae and Heliconiaceae, but rarely in leaf epidermis (Tomlinson 1959, 1961, Triplett and Kirchoff 1991. Crystals were recently found in costal epidermal cells on both leaf surfaces in some genera of Zingiberaceae, such as Globba, Alpinia, Amomum and Elettaria (Tomlinson 1956;Hussin et al 2000;Talip et al 2005;Jayasree 2007;Kajornjit et al 2018;Salasiah and Meekiong 2018). We also found crystals in the epidermal cells of all species of Zingiber.…”

“…The leaf epidermal features of some genera of Zingiberaceae, such as Amomum, Alpinia, Boesenbergia, Kaempferia, Curcuma Hedychium, Elettaria and Globba, have been described to some extent (Tomlinson 1956;Patel 1975;Hussin et al 2000Hussin et al , 2001Xiao et al 2004;Talip et al 2005;Jayasree 2007;Chen and Xia 2010;Martins et al 2010;Tang et al 2010;Kajornjit et al 2018;Salasiah and Meekiong 2018). Nevertheless, only a few representative species in these genera have been studied.…”