TITLE:
Comparative Foliar Structure of Vicia L. Species from China
AUTHORS:
Ann Abozeid, Yang Liu, Jia Liu, Zhonghua Tang
KEYWORDS:
Vicia, Fabaceae, Stipules, Trichomes, Numerical Taxonomy, Micro-Morphology
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.5 No.3,
April
3,
2017
ABSTRACT:
The genus Vicia L. includes about 190 species around the world and approximately 40 species in China. The genus includes minor food crops and forage plants. This study gives a detailed description of foliar structure of some Vicia species from China. Leaf characters showed considerable variation among studied taxa including petiole and tendril length; leaflets number, length, width, shape, apex, base; blade surface, trichome shape, type, base and length; stipules shape, base, length, width and surface. Numerical analysis of these characters was used to construct a phenogram illustrating the relationship between the studied taxa and to build an artificial key to identify Vicia species. Moreover, variation in leaf characters helped in overcoming the overlapping among harmful taxa.