Morphology of foliar trichomes of the Chinese cork oak Quercus variabilis by electron microscopy and three-dimensional surface profiling.

Morphology of foliar trichomes was analyzed in Quercus variabilis by electron microscopy and three-dimensional surface profiling. Leaves from suppressed or dominant sprouts of the oak species were collected after a forest fire to unravel the effects of the disturbance factor on sprouting of the oak species. Scanning electron microscopy revealed two types of trichomes depending on the leaf surface. The trichomes on the adaxial surface were branched and constricted, and possessed a single row of thin-walled cells with a collapsed morphology (glandular branched uniseriate trichomes). Meanwhile, the trichomes on the abaxial surface were star-shaped, unfused with each other, and had 6 to 10 rays (nonglandular simple stellate trichomes). An apparent proliferation of trichomes was evident on the adaxial surface of the dominant sprouts. Uniseriate trichomes could be discernable as an elevation from the surface by white light scanning interferometry. By transmission electron microscopy, thin and convoluted cell wall, degenerated cytoplasm, and a single row of cells were characteristic of the trichomes on the adaxial surface. The thick cell walls of the mature trichomes on the abaxial surface represented the nonglandular nature. This is the first report on the morphological and ultrastructural characterization of foliar trichomes of the oak species.