1. science
2. medicine
3. physiology

Journal of Science and Technology
1 (2), 2007, 319-326
©BEYKENT UNIVERSITY
MORPHOLOGICAL AND ANATOMICAL STUDY ON
ROMULEA LINARESII PARL. SUBSP. GRAECA BEG.
(IRIDACEAE)
Canan ÖZDEMİR1, Pelin BARAN1 and Yurdanur AKYOL2
1
Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Science and Arts, Department of Biology,
Manisa / Turkey, [email protected], [email protected]
2
Ege University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, İzmir / Turkey
ABSTRACT
In this study, the morphological and anatomical properties of Romulea
linaresii Parl. subsp. graeca Beg. have been investigated. In the morphological
part of the study, features of various organs of the plant such as corm, scape,
leaf and flower were determined and illustrated. It has been found out that
colour of filament was dark purple and this feature was characteristic for
Romulea linaresii Parl. subsp. graeca Beg. In anatomical studies, crosssections of root, scape and leaf of the plant were examined. Most of the
anatomical properties were similar to the other members of Iridaceae family.
Keywords: Romulea linaresii, morphology, anatomy.
ÖZET
Bu çalışmada, Romulea linaresii Parl. subsp. graeca Beg. alttürünün
morfolojik ve anatomik özellikleri araştırılmıştır. Morfolojik olarak, bitkinin
korm, skapus, yaprak ve çiçek gibi çeşitli organlarının özellikleri belirlenerek
çizimle gösterilmiştir. Filament renginin koyu mor olduğu ve bu özelliğin
Romulea linaresii Parl. subsp. graeca Beg. için tipik bir özellik olduğu
bulunmuştur. Anatomik araştırmalarda ise, bitkinin kök, skapus ve yaprak
enine kesitleri incelenmiştir. Bitkinin anatomik özelliklerinin büyük bir kısmı
Iridaceae familyasının diğer üyeleri ile benzerlik göstermiştir.
Anahtar kelimeler: Romulea linaresii, morfoloji, anatomi.
1. INTRODUCTION
Ixioideae, with over 800 species and about 30 genera, is the largest subfamily
of Iridaceae. It occurs mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa, but three genera, Crocus,
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Morphological And Anatomical Study On Romulea Linaresu Pari. Subsp. Graeca Beg.
(Iridaceae)
Gladiolus and Romulea occur also in the Mediterranean basin [6]. Ixioideae is
also a very coherent subfamily in terms of both morphological and anatomical
characters [14]. The genus Romulea comprises about 90 species in SubSaharan Africa, The Mediterranean and Near East. The center of diversity of
the genus lies in the winter rainfall region of Southern Africa, where 73
species are currently recognized [7]. Two new species of Romulea which are
described in Northern Cape raised the number of species in Southern Africa to
76 [8]. The genus Romulea Maratti has been represented by 5 species in
Turkey. One of the most prominent properties of this genus is the frequent
occurence of gynodioecism. The sexuality may be related to flower size and
intensity of colour [2].
There are several reports on the morphology and anatomy of this genus [6,14].
None of the study on the anatomy of Romulea linaresii has been found except
for the description in the "Flora of Turkey" [2].
2. MATERIAL AND METHODS
Plant specimens were taken from Maldan region near Muradiye town which is
situated in the western part of Turkey. Taxonomical description of the
subspecies was made according to Davis [2]. For anatomical studies plant
specimens were fixed in 70 % alcohol. An olympus microscope was used to
draw the anatomical sections after staining with Sartur reactive [1].
3. RESULTS
3.1. MORPHOLOGICAL PROPERTIES
Leaves of Romulea linaresii subsp. graeca were 3-5 in number, 4-15 cm in
length and 0.5-1.5 mm in width. The leaf was mostly recurved and adpressed
to soil. Pedicels were short. Bracts were 9-17 mm in length, herbaceous with
membranous margins sometimes tinged purple. Bracteols with broad
membranous margins were speckled red-brown. Perianth was violet-purple
with darker centre in colour, and 1-2.1 cm in length. Perianth tube was 3-8
mm. Perianth segments of which outer side was greenish at base were acute.
Filaments were dark purple while anthers were pale yellow. Stamens were
reaching up to
1/3 of perianth. Stamens were exceeding stigmas (Fig 1).
3.2. ANATOMICAL PROPERTIES
3.2.1. Root Anatomy: Single layered epidermis was present in the outer most
of cross section of the root. Epidermis cells were thin walled and prismatical.
Cortex was 8-12 layered and it consisted of ovoidal, thin walled,
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C. Özdemir, P. Baran and Y.Akyol
parenchymatic cells. Endodermis was present at the outer part of vascular
cylinder. The single layered endodermis consisted of thick walled cells of
which 3 sides were thickened. The thickened walls of endodermis cells were
adjacent to the pericycle. The pericycle was single layered and thin walled.
Single metaxylem was present at the median part of the vascular cylinder. 8-12
xylem strands which did not reach the pericycle were present at the periphery
of the vascular cylinder. The phloem region between these xylem strands was
very small (Fig 2 A).
3.2.2. Scape Anatomy: The cross section of scape showed orbicular shape
being sinuous. Epidermis was single layered and consisted of prismatical cells.
A thick cuticle was present on the outer part of epidermal cells. Cortex was 615 layered and parenchymatic. Vascular bundles were arranged so as to form a
single ring. There were a few small sclerenchyma groups between vascular
bundles. Vascular bundles were surrounded by sclerenchymatic cells. There
were a pith space in the centre of scape (Fig 2 B-C).
3.2.3. Leaf Anatomy: In the cross section of the leaf of Romulea linaresii
subsp. graeca, it has been observed that thick cuticle was present on abaxial
and adaxial surface. The outer walls of epidermis cells 4-sided were straight
except those at the groove part of leaf surface. Epidermis cells at the groove
part had walls with papilla. Sclerenchyma groups were located at the corners
of the cross sections. Major vascular bundles were present at the margins of
the cross sections. There were sclerenchyma cells on the vascular bundles. The
center of leaf was filled with large parenchymatic cells that lack chloroplasts
and were broken down so as to form an air space. Stoma cells were in sunken
position between epidermis cells with papilla. It was difficult to distinguish the
cells of palisade parenchyma in the mesophyll of the leaf (Fig 3).
Table 1. Anatomical Measurements of Romulea linaresii Parl. subsp. graeca Beg.
Width (^m)
min
Root
Epidermis cell
Cortex
Endodermis
Pericycle
Metaxylem
Scape
Cuticle
Outer epidermis cell
Inner epidermis cell
Parenchyma
Leaf
Cuticle
Epidermis
Parenchyma
Length (^m)
max
15
19.1
8.2
5.5
40.9
21,6
54.5
27.3
13.6
68.2
4.1
10.9
5.5
13.6
5.5
27.3
13.6
27.3
4.1
8.2
8.2
5.5
19.1
27.3
321
min
Max
9
13,5
13.6
4.1
21.8
8.2
9.6
1.4
16.4
6,8
5.5
13.6
13.6
46.4
Morphological And Anatomical Study On Romulea Lınaresıı Pari. Subsp. Graeca Beg.
(Irıdaceae)
Figure 1. General Appearance and Some Parts of Romulea linaresii Pari. subsp. graeca
Beg.
A,B. Whole plant C. Bract D. Tepal E. Stamen F. Style G. Capsule
A:x1.6; C:x3.5; D:x4.4; E:x9.1; F:x6.2; G:x1.8
322
C. Özdemir, P. Baran and Y.Akyol
30|Jm
Figure 2. Cross sections of root and scape of Romulea linaresii Parl. subsp. graeca
Beg.
A. Cross section of the root
B,C. Cross section of the scape
e: epidermis c: cortex en: endodermis m:metaxylem v: vascular bundle cu: cuticle
oe: outer epidermis ie: inner epidermis p: parenchyma s: sclerenchyma group
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Morphological And Anatomical Study On Romulea Lınaresıı Pari. Subsp. Graeca Beg.
(Irıdaceae)
Figure 3. Cross sections of leaf (A,B) of Romulea linaresii Pari. subsp. graeca Beg.
e: epidermis me: mesophyll s: sclerenchyma group ph: phloem x: xylem
v: vascular bundle p: parenchyma
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C. Özdemir, P. Baran and Y.Akyol
4. DISCUSSION
None of the study on Romulea linaressi subsp. graeca that is the subject of this
study has been found except for the description in the "Flora of Turkey" [2].
For this reason, Romulea linaressi subsp. graeca was investigated in point of
morphology and anatomy. In this study, it has been detected that Romulea
linaressi subsp. graeca had some different morphological characteristics than
the other species of Romulea such as dark purple filaments. This feature is
taxonomical character that is used to determine the species. In the anatomical
studies, it has been determined that root of the taxon was typical of
monocotyledone root and the thickening was clear on the walls of endodermal
cells of the root of Romulea linaressi subsp. graeca. The same results in the
literature have been observed at the root of Crocus aerius Herb., Crocus
fleischen Gay and Crocus danfordiae Maw [12,11], while it has not been seen
in the root of Crocuspulchellus Hebert and Romulea columnae Seb. and Mauri
subsp. columnae [10,6]. Protoxylem groups are reported to be polyarch [3]
since the number of them is 8-12 in the root. The same result has been
observed in the root of Romulea columnae subsp. columnae [6]. According to
the results in the present study, vascular bundles in the scape were arranged in
a singe ring. The same feature was seen at the scape of Crocus aerius [12],
while vascular bundles were located in both peripheral and central part of
scape of Romulea columnae subsp. columnae [6]. It has been stated by the
researchers that palisade and spongy cells are not distinguishable in the leaf of
Leucosum aestivum L. and Lilium ciliatum P.H. Davis [5,9]. We found the
same properties in our research.
The researchers have pointed out that the characteristic of several rows of
papilla was present on each epidermal cell of the leaf in an apomorphy that
occured only in a few species of Geissorhiza, Romulea and Crocus thus
emphasizing the possible link between these three genera [4,13]. The similar
feature has been observed at the groove part of the leaf of Romulea linaresii
subsp. graeca. Finally, we have pointed out that anatomical structure of
Romulea linaresii subsp. graeca was very similar to the other Iridaceae
family.
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Morphological And Anatomical Study On Romulea Lınaresıı Pari. Subsp. Graeca Beg.
(Irıdaceae)
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