Arenaria lanuginosa (Caryophyllaceae) en Argentina: morfología foliar

Abstract

THE SECOND PART OF A STUDY ON THE LEAF MORPHOLOGY OF ARENARIA LANUGINOSA (MICHAUX) ROHRB. IS PRESENTED. THE FIRST PART WAS DEVOTED TO MATERIAL COLLECTED IN MEXICO. IN THE PRESENT STUDY, SPECIMENS COLLECTED IN THE NW AND CENTRAL PART OF ARGENTINA WERE ANALYZED. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO LOOK FOR THE POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT LEAF SHAPES AND OTHER LEAF FEATURES SUCH AS PUBESCENCE, LOWER AND UPPER EPIDERMIS, MARGINS AND STOMATAL MORPHOLOGY. IN ALL THE STUDIED SPECIMENS, THE CUTICLE OF THE TRICHOME APICAL CELL IS ORNAMENTED WITH ELLIPTICAL BASE SOLID WARTS WITH ITS MAJOR AXIS PARALLEL TO THE MAIN AXIS OF THE TRICHOME AS OBSERVED PREVIOUSLY IN THE MEXICAN MATERIAL. THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT FEATURE VARIATIONS ARE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TAXONOMIC PROPOSAL DONE BY ROHRBACH IN 1872, ALTHOUGH IT IS OBSERVED NOW THAT THE PUBESCENCE IS MORE DENSE IN VAR: LANUGINOSA THAN IN THE OTHER TWO VARIETIES. NO SPECIMENS ASSIGNABLE TO A. LANUGINOSA VAR. DIFFUSA WERE FOUND.