The epidermal layer of plants carries unique and distinctive features that may serve, in most cases, as morphological markers to distinguish different plant species. These morphological features may include relative size and shape of component cells,quality and thickness of the cuticle and nature and distribution of specialized cells such as the stomata and trichomes. The venation patterns of leaves may also provide important identification points. Studies of epidermal traits gain special importance for the identification and pheno-typic characterization of mutations that result in alterations of surface cells or their derivatives, and their characterization generally involves scanning electron microscopy (1).
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