Implication of scanning electron microscopy in the seed morphology with special reference to three subfamilies of Fabaceae

Abstract

The current research work was aimed to determine the morphological variation in the seeds of subfamilies Caesalpinioideae, Mimosoideae, and Papilionoideae using scanning electron microscope to investigate the different seed features including; Seed length, width, weight, hilum shape, position, fracture line pattern, pleurogram shape, texture crudeness, ornamentation wall, and surface ornamentation. A total of 12 species were collected. The study reveals that the seed types alters from psilate to rugose, pleurogram shape from lunar to U shape, hilum shape from elliptical to depressed, hilum position from terminal to subterminal, fracture line pattern from reticulate irregular ridges to psilate with regular ridges, texture crudeness from fine to coarse, surface ornamentation from reticulate to psilate, and ornamentation wall also varies from thin to thick. In all the studied species, it was found that seed surface was brown in color except in Senna alata, in which seed surface was black. Regarding the seed size, it was found that the smallest seed was observed for Sesbania sesban, while the largest seed was observed for Pongamia pinnata. The present research article indicates the taxonomic significance of seed morphology in the subfamilies Caesalpinioideae, Mimosaceae, and Papilionoideae.

Microscopic techniques for characterization and authentication of oil‐yielding seeds

“…Besides, SEM is generally used for acknowledgment of micromorphological features of seed coat which guides us in recognition of plant species and genera Waheed et al, 2021). Moreover, micromorphological evaluation of seed testa helps in settling numerous taxonomical and phylogenetic issues and used for recognition of phenetic connections of a few classes (Dawood et al, 2020; Rashid et al, 2021).…”

Scanning electron microscopy as a tool for authentication of biodiesel synthesis from Linum usitatissimum seed oil

“…Identification of seeds is necessary while utilizing nonedible sources as a feedstock for the production of biodiesel. The structure and micromorphological characters of seeds are studied through (SEM) scanning electron microscopy (Alam et al, 2019; Waheed et al, 2021). For quantitative examination, SEM is a powerful technique which determines the morphological structure of seeds such as ornamentation, surface, and seed sculpturing, which could not be made possible through light microscopy (Arshad et al, 2019; Rashid et al, 2018).…”

The Taxonomic Significance of Pollen and Seed Morphology in The Mimosoideae and Caesalpinoideae (Leguminosae)

“…Similarly, pollen morphology of the Caesalpinioideae was studied in detail by El Ghazali et al (1997), Elazab (1998) and Tahavi et al (2004), as well as of individual genera by Larsen (1974) and Pu et al (2003) on Bauhinia, by Fernandez-Pacella (2014) and Doty et al (2020) on Senna, by Fitri & Des (2018) on Caesalpinia, by Wani et al (2015) on Delonix, and by Maw et al (2020) on Parkinsonia. Seed morphology and structure in the Leguminosae as revealed by light and scanning electron microscopy has been the subject of numerous studies by Hussein et al (2002a, b), Al-Gohary & Mohamed (2007), Moawed (2009), Rashid et al (2018Rashid et al ( , 2021, Khan et al (2020), andWaheed et al (2021).…”