Anatomical study of leaf and stem of Carex L. species (Cyperaceae) in Shomali, Razavi and Jounobi Khorasan provinces

The genus Carex L. is one of the largest genera (2000 spp.) of the flowering plants. There are 85 species of Carex in Iran plateau that approximately half of them are present in Iran. In this study، stem and leaf anatomy of 12 species and subspecies of Carex from two subgenera، Carex and Vignea، were investigated using hand cutting method and blue toluidine staining. The results showed that some of anatomical features such as، location of vascular bundles، size of air cavities، type of triangular stem، number of sclerenchyma layer and amount of lignified stem and cuticle thickness were effective in determining the species. This study did not confirm the classical taxonomy based on morphological characteristics and the results revealed that anatomical characteristics were correlated with plant water conditions.