Morphological and anatomical studies on some taxa of family Apocynaceae

Apocynaceae is one of the important families that is present all over the world. The aim of this study is to provide some anatomical features of 7 species that represent 7 genera belonging to 4 subfamilies (Apocynoideae, Asclepiadoideae, Periplocoideae and Rauvolfioideae) related to Apocynaceae. The species samples were collected from different areas in Egypt. The study was focus on the morphological and anatomical characters of stems and leaves. The results were recorded in the form of comparison between the examined plants. Most of these plants are perennial herbs as in Cynanchum acutum L. but some are shrubs as in Carissa spinarum L. and trees as in Alstoniascholar is R.Br. The stem is woody in some of the investigated plants as in Alstoniascholaris R.Br. and succulent in some plants as in Pachypodium lamerei. The leaves are simple, spirally, opposite and opposite decussate. Leaves shape are ovate, elliptic, oblong-lanceolate or cordate with entire margin. The vascular bundles in all of the examined plants are bicollateral. From the analysis of all the available data by using the Multi Variate Statistical Package (MVSP) Program it could be stated that Apocynaceaeand Asclepiadaceae are very similar to each other which could be ranked in one large family Apocynaceae. In conclusion, we emphasize the previous recommendations to merge both Apocynaceae and Asclepiadaceae families in one large family, that is Apocynaceae.

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