Mericarp and Seed Morphology of the genus Althaea L. (Malvaceae) in Turkey

Abstract

Seed morphology of four Lavatera species distributed in Turkey were investigated via light microscope (LM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) to determine their seed macro-and micromorphological characters and to assess the diagnostic value of these features. The seeds are dark brown in color and reniform with rounded apex and base reniform in shape. The dimension of seeds ranges between 1.68-2.89 mm in length and 1.51-2.4 mm in width. Also seeds are glabrous, strophiolate and hilum at basal. Two types of seed surface pattern have been observed: scalariform-ruminate and reticulate-ruminate. The seed size and seed coat ornamentation have been determined as important morphological properties for distinguishing the Lavatera species.

Taxonomic significance of seed macro‐micromorphology of Turkish Alcea L. (Malvaceae) through light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy

“…They were investigated and photographed with SEM (JEOL JSM 6060 LV, Tokyo, Japan) at a voltage of 15 kV in the Prof. Dr. Zekiye Suludere Electron Microscopy Laboratory at the Gazi University, Faculty of Science. Terminology was adopted from Barthlott (1981), Abid et al (2016), Özbek & Uzunhisarcıklı, 2020a; 2020b, and Abdel Khalik et al (2021).…”

“…The significance of seed morphological characteristics in plant systematics for the family Malvaceae has been emphasized in some studies (Ahmed & Qaiser, 1989; Ather et al, 2009; Kirkbride et al, 2006; Masullo et al, 2020; Özbek & Uzunhisarcıklı, 2020a; 2020b; Sivarajan & Pradeep, 1996). Paul and Nayar (1987) examined the seeds of 54 taxa under 17 genera using SEM, and said that the variation in the seed coat surface differs from species to species, even in infraspecific ranks.…”

“…Lopimia Mart. (obovoid shape).Similarly,Özbek & Uzunhisarcıklı (2020a;2020b) stated that Turkish Althaea and Lavatera L. species have reniform-shaped seeds. The seed shape is rather uniform in the Alcea taxa studied.…”

Significance of Seed Storage Protein and Seed Morphological Characters in the Classification of Some Species of Malvaceae s.l.

“…of 17, light beige to chocolate brown very large seed, while B. australis is dusty black. Özbek & Uzunhisarcikl (2020) demonstrated that dimension and seed pattern is important morphological characters for the separation of the studied taxa.…”

“…The most useful features for seed recognition include the seed shape, colour, hilum shape, ornamentation, and seed weight (Ilakiya & Ramamoorthy, 2020;Karakish et al, 2020). Moreover, seed surface patterns have been used to solve taxonomic problems (Karaismailoğlu, 2015(Karaismailoğlu, , 2019Fawzi, 2018;Özbek & Uzunhisarcikl, 2020).…”