El-Raouf Hany S Abd
Biology Department, University College, Taif University, Turaba, Saudi Arabia.
Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Saudi J Biol Sci. 2021 Jan;28(1):512-522. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2020.10.036. Epub 2020 Oct 28.
Aizoaceae is one of the most important and widespread succulent plant families in both tropical/subtropical regions and arid zones. In this study, 27 species were collected from various floristic regions in Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and cactus farms (Kalupia - Egypt). The morphological characteristics of every taxon were recorded. The important morphological features included: the number of leaves per plant; leaf types; leaf position (cauline or radical; the latter indicates leaves arising from, or near, the roots); leaf arrangement; petiolate or sessile leaves; leaf sheath present or absent; leaf shape; leaf margin; leaf tip; presence of leaf 'window area'; leaf texture; and presence of white or dark miniscule dots (white miniscule dots from calcium carbonate and dark miniscule dots from tannin sacs). The investigated anatomical features were as follows: shape of the transverse section; the type of epidermal cells; the presence of large epidermal cells (bladder cells); presence of papilla and simple hairs; presence of tannin sacs; shapes of calcium oxalate crystals; shape of the xylem vessels; and the presence of Kranz unit (the unit that constitutes the vascular bundle/s, parenchyma sheath, and surrounding mesophyll) or collenchyma sheath. All data were recorded in a data matrix (as either text or numerical data), which was used to construct the identification key and phylogeny tree using a multi-variate statistical package. The results of our analysis may open the possibility of using the morphological and anatomical features of leaves to distinguish between the subfamilies, genera, and species of Aizoaceae.
番杏科是热带/亚热带地区和干旱地带最重要且分布最广的多肉植物科之一。在本研究中，从埃及、沙特阿拉伯王国的不同植物区系以及仙人掌农场（埃及卡卢皮亚）收集了27个物种。记录了每个分类单元的形态特征。重要的形态特征包括：每株植物的叶片数量；叶型；叶的着生位置（茎生叶或基生叶；后者指叶片从根部或根部附近长出）；叶的排列方式；具叶柄或无柄叶；叶鞘的有无；叶形；叶缘；叶尖；叶“窗区”的有无；叶质地；以及白色或深色微小斑点的有无（白色微小斑点来自碳酸钙，深色微小斑点来自单宁囊）。所研究的解剖特征如下：横切面形状；表皮细胞类型；大型表皮细胞（泡状细胞）的有无；乳头和单细胞毛的有无；单宁囊的有无；草酸钙晶体的形状；木质部导管的形状；以及花环结构单元（构成维管束、薄壁组织鞘和周围叶肉的单元）或厚角组织鞘的有无。所有数据都记录在一个数据矩阵中（以文本或数值数据形式），该数据矩阵用于使用多变量统计软件包构建鉴定检索表和系统发育树。我们的分析结果可能为利用叶片的形态和解剖特征来区分番杏科的亚科、属和种提供了可能性。
