COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF LEAF AND STEM IN SPECIES OF CESTREAE G. DON (SOLANACEAE) FROM ARGENTINA

Abstract

This article compares leaf and stem anatomy of the 13 native and cultivated species of Cestrum L. and Sessea vestioides
(Schltdl.) Hunz., of the tribe Cestreae G. Don (Solanaceae) from Argentina. Herbarium and FAA-preserved material
was employed. The leaf characters which best distinguished among species were: secondary vein architecture, marginal
ultimate venation, stomata and hairs, cuticle characteristics, presence of fibres adjacent to external and internal phloem
in the middle vein, sclereid presence and abundance in mesophyll and middle vein. In stems the best diagnostic characters
were: sclereid presence and abundance in epidermis, cortex and pith, fibre presence adjacent to phloem, and the periderm
origin. We did not identify any vegetative characters that clearly distinguished Sessea vestioides, the only species of the
genus in Argentina, from Cestrum.