ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Micromorphological Foliar Screening
for Identification of Moraceae Taxa using Light
Microscopy (LM) and Scanning Electron
Microscopy (SEM) Techniques
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Department of Botany, University of Peshawar, 25120 Peshawar, Pakistan
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Department of Botany, Islamia College Peshawar, 25120 Peshawar, Pakistan
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University Public School, University of Peshawar 25120, Pakistan
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Qarshi Herb Research Centre, Qarshi industries (Pvt) Ltd. Hattar, Haripur, Pakistan
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Department of Crop and Animal Production, Sason Vocational School, Batman University, Batman 72060, Turkey
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Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan
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Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,
China
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University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
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Department of Sustainable Environmental Design, Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), Islamabad 44310,
Pakistan
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Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
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Department of Horticulture, Agricultural Faculty, Ataturk University, Erzurum 25240, Turkiye
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HGF Agro, Ata Teknokent, TR-25240 Erzurum, Turkiye
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Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
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Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35511, Egypt
Submission date: 2023-08-26
Final revision date: 2023-12-30
Acceptance date: 2024-01-15
Online publication date: 2024-02-16
Publication date: 2024-05-23
Corresponding author
Muhammad Nauman Khan
Department of Botany, Islamia College Peshawar, 25120 Peshawar, Pakistan, Peshawar, Pakistan
Alevcan Kaplan
Department of Crop and Animal Production, Sason Vocational School, Batman University, Batman 72060, Turkey
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2024;33(4):4141-4152
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ABSTRACT
A study on foliar epidermis was conducted on nine species belonging to the Moraceae family to investigate
diverse micromorphological characteristics that hold taxonomic importance in leaf epidermis. Based on
LM (light microscopy) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy), it was found that the shape of epidermal
cells in the studied members is rectangular, irregular, polygonal, and pentagonal on both leaf epidermal
surfaces. The common shape of the epidermal cells is polygonal in most species. The size of the epidermal
cell in length and width varies from species to species. The wall of the epidermal cells is thick in most
species, except in Broussonetia papyrifera (L.) L’Hér. ex Vent. and Morus alba L., and Morus laevigata
Wall. ex Brandis, where the epidermal cells are thin on both leaf surfaces. It was found that the majority
of the plants are hypostomatic, i.e., the adaxial surface of the leaves has no stomata. Most species have
anomocytic stomata on the abaxial surface of the leaf. The cyclocytic stomata were found only in Ficus
elastica Roxb. ex Hornem. and Ficus benjamina L. The stomata type, which is rare in the studied species,
is cyclocytic, laterocytic, and paracytic. We found variations in the shape and size of leaf epidermal cells
and stomata on both leaf surfaces in all selected species. The most important element of the leaf is the
stomatal index, which serves as a geographic indicator and shows the transpiration rate of the leaf. The
stomatal index ranges from (76.7%) in B. papyrifera to (2.13%) in F. benjamina on the adaxial surface,
while on the abaxial surface it is highest (61.8%) in Ficus religiosa L. and lowest (3.06%) in Ficus virens
Aiton. The identification of the plants at both genus and specific-levels was found to be taxonomically
appropriate based on the epidermal architecture of the leaves. Thus, the current study aims to clarify the
qualitative and quantitative properties of the leaf epidermis in order to give information for Moraceae
family species identification and categorization.