Leaf anatomy of Quesnelia (Bromeliaceae): implications for the systematics of core bromelioids

Abstract

Quesnelia is an endemic genus of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. It features 21 species and three varieties that are distributed from Santa Catarina to Bahia, with diversity centers in the Rio de Janeiro coastal region and the rainforest of southern Bahia. It is divided into the subgenera Quesnelia subg. Quesnelia and Quesnelia subg. Billbergiopsis. In this study, the leaf anatomy of all species of Quesnelia is characterized and compared by multivariate analysis to determine whether leaf anatomy confirms this subgeneric division. The results demonstrate that leaf anatomy supports the existence of three distinct groups of species now classified under the genus Quesnelia. When compared to other species, the first group, which is represented by five Billbergiopsis taxa, is characterized by distinct anatomical arrangement, where the stomata are positioned at the same level as the epidermis, the water storage tissue is poorly developed, and extra-fascicular fiber strands are distributed throughout the mesophyll. The remaining groups support the subgenera Quesnelia and Billbergiopsis, which differ basically in terms of the contour of the leaf in transverse sections, size and cell type of the adaxial water storage tissue, and the presence of extrafascicular fiber strands. Comparing with anatomical data available in the literature for Bromelioideae, these results indicate the similarity of Quesnelia with Aechmea, Canistrum and Billbergia, which corroborates morphological and molecular phylogenies, and thus support future taxonomic circumscriptions of these important genera from the core Bromelioideae.

Impacts of photoautotrophic and photomixotrophic conditions on in vitro propagated Billbergia zebrina (Bromeliaceae)

“…5). This leaf structure is frequently observed and described in many bromeliads (Mantovani et al 2012;Pereira et al 2013;Martins et al 2014). …”

Invasion of the South American dry diagonal: What can the leaf anatomy of Pitcairnioideae (Bromeliaceae) tell us about it?

“…This represents a clear case of concerted convergence (Givnish and Sytsma, 1997;Patterson and Givnish, 2002). Also at the generic level, the leaf anatomy provided interesting results about trait evolution in Bromelia (Monteiro et al, 2011) and Quesnelia (Mantovani et al, 2012).…”

Are the wing's cells alive? Study case in Vriesea trichomes

“…Recent studies carried out by Aoyama & Sajo (2003), Proença & Sajo (2004, 2007, Scatena & Segecin (2005), Souza et al (2005), Monteiro, Forzza & Mantovani (2011), Silva, Oliveira & Scatena (2011 and Mantovani et al (2012) describe absorbent peltate trichomes in different genera of Bromeliaceae, but make no reference to the content of these cells. Moreover, an anatomic study on species of the genus Vriesea carried out by Arruda & Costa (2003) mentioned the presence of cytoplasm in the wing cells.…”