Taxonomic relevance of petiole anatomical and micro-morphological characteristics of L. (Ranunculaceae) taxa from South Korea.

We assessed the micro-morphological and anatomical structures of the petioles of 19 taxa from South Korea. The petiole surface features were observed with the help of stereomicroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and the anatomical features are studied via microtomy and light microscopy. The results of this study showed that the presence/absence and abundance of trichomes, petiole cross-section outlines, upper surface wings and grooves, and the number of vascular bundles were useful for species discrimination in . Among the studied taxa, was the only species with a glabrous petiole surface. Two types of trichomes were observed in the other 18 taxa: long, non-glandular and flagelliform trichomes and short, glandular capitate trichomes. We found four to six major vascular bundles and a maximum of eight interfascicular vascular bundles ( and ) in the 19 taxa. A cluster analysis based on UPGMA identified six clusters with 18 nodes. Although the number of taxa investigated was limited, taxa from the sections , , and clustered with each other in the UPGMA phenogram due to the overall similarity of petiole features. Based on this observation, we can conclude that most of the petiole features are limited to the species level, and thus, the data obtained could be used as descriptive and/or diagnostic features for particular taxa, which may be useful for the investigation of problematic taxa in the genus.