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Subepidermal Idioblasts in Leaflets of Caesalpinia pulcherrima and Parkinsonia aculeata (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae)

1993; Torrey Botanical Society; Volume: 120; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/2996996

2325-8055

Nels R. Lersten, John D. Curtis,

Forest ecology and management

LERSTEN, NELs R. (Department of Botany, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-1020) AND JoHN D. CURTIS (Department of Biology, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, WI 54481-3897). Subepidermal idioblasts in leaflets of Caesalpinia pulcherrima and Parkinsonia aculeata (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae). Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 120: 319-326. 1993.-Leaflets of Caesalpinia pulcherrima Sw. and Parkinsonia aculeata L. (Caesalpinia group, Tribe Caesalpinieae, Subfamily Caesalpinioideae, Leguminosae) were examined fresh or processed for clearing, resin-embedded sectioning, and scanning electron microscopy. Both species have dimorphic idioblasts restricted to adaxial and abaxial subepidermis: broadly ovoid to pyriform (adaxial) and obloid (abaxial) in C. pulcherrima, and cylindrical (adaxial) and obloid to lobedobloid (abaxial) in P. aculeata. Cell contents were not identified but all idioblasts tested negative for oil. In both species, several thousand idioblasts occur per leaflet, with the preponderance, at least twice as many, being adaxial. Caesalpinia pulcherrima has two possibly unique features: idioblasts are connected to the epidermis by peglike invaginations from overlying epidermal cells; and numerous scattered epidermal patches, each consisting of 2-8 tiny cuboidal cells, occur among, but not in contact with, idioblasts. These subepidermal foliar idioblasts were described briefly only once before, in a German dissertation of 1892. Although idioblast function is unknown, these unusual cells are perhaps potential taxonomic characters in this still tentatively classified tribe.