FOLIAR ANATOMICAL STUDIES OF AJUGA CHAMAECISTUS (LAMIACEAE) FROM IRAN

Ajuga chamaecistus Ging. ex Benth. (Lamiaceae) is a small subshrub, widely distributed in Iran. It has four subspecies including chamaecistus, scoparia, tomentella and euphrasioides, all endemics of Iran. In this study, three subspecies were collected from 16 provinces, totally 28 regions and their leaf anatomical structure was studied. The studied anatomical traits were leaf type, trichome type (glandular/non-glandular), stomata position, number of the upper and lower palisade parenchyma, number of vascular bundle, presence or absence of the fibre- Sclerenchyma, presence or absence of the vascular sheath, tissue of vascular sheath, upper and lower collenchyma as qualitative traits and thickness of the upper and lower palisade parenchyma, thickness of the upper and lower cuticle, mesophyll/ vascular bundle, diameter of lamina, adaxial and abaxial stomatal density, adaxial and abaxial stomatal length, adaxial and abaxial stomatal width as quantitative traits. This study provided valuable information on the leaf anatomical structure of A. chamaecistus. The results showed that the anatomical structure of the studied subspecies are very similar. Although PCA analysis separated some subspecies, the anatomical traits of the leaf are not enough to separate different subspecies, to do this, other studies, such as anatomical traits of other plants structures such as petiole and stem as well as other biosystematics studies may be helpful.