Short Communication: Comparative foliar epidermal study of some species of pteridophytes in Rivers State University, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract. Ibiye AI, Green BO, Ajuru MG. 2023. Comparative foliar epidermal study of some species of pteridophytes in Rivers State University, Nigeria. Cell Biol Dev 7: 51-55. Pteridophytes show many forms and are cosmopolitan in distribution, from sea level to high mountains. They are about 13,500 species of fern and allies distributed throughout the world. Some are edible, while some are ornamental. They are economically important to humans in food, medicine, ornaments, fibers, and cultural usages. Ferns generally are an understudied group of plants, and no work on the foliar epidermal study of the three species in the South-South part of Nigeria has been done. The study aimed to investigating the foliar anatomy of three species of pteridophytes at Rivers State University, Nigeria, to elucidate their taxonomic knowledge using this line of evidence. The standard method for foliar epidermal analysis was employed. Fresh mature leaves were soaked in sodium hypochlorite (5%) for 3-5 minutes to soften the tissues, and the adaxial surface was scraped off with a sharp razor blade until the abaxial surface was reached; equally, the abaxial surface was scraped off to reveal the adaxial surface. The species include: Nephrolepis biserrata (Sw.) Schott, Phymatosorus scolopendria (Burm.F.) Pic. Serm., and Microgramma mauritiana (Wild.) Tardieu. Results of the foliar epidermal anatomical study revealed that the presence of uniseriate non-glandular trichomes on both the abaxial and adaxial surfaces of N. biserrata and absent in P. scolopendria and M. mauritiana is diagnostic of this species. The presence of diacytic stomata in addition to anomocytic type in the abaxial and adaxial surfaces of N. biserrata also separates it from P. scolopendria which had amphidiacytic stomata on the abaxial surface and M. mauritiana lacked stomata on this surface. All three species possessed numerous crystal sand on both surfaces, which is also diagnostic. These characters have been reported to be diagnostic and considered highly significant for solving taxonomic disputes through identification and delimiting among the species, thus broadening the scope of their taxonomic knowledge.