Comparative Foliar Micro-Morphological Study of Six Cucurbitaceous Species

A character comparison of the leaf epidermis and petioles of six species belonging to six different genera in the family Cucurbitaceaewas conducted with light microscope. Taxonomically useful differences and similarities were recorded across the taxa; and based on this taxa affinity was understood. The useful characters of the leaf epidermis include stomata, trichomes and the epidermal cells. Across the species, paracytic, anomocytic and anisocytic stomatal types were found. All the species are pubescent and trichomes can be unicellular, multicellular and uniseriate, epidermal cell shape and anticlinal wall patterns are also useful but the quantitative data greatly overlap. However, the most outstanding character of the petioles is the number of vascular bundles plates; the number varies from 7-14 across the species but Luffa cylindricaand Momordica cissoidesappear closest with the vascular bundles plates not being above eight in number.