ИСТИНА

The genus Aspidistra comprises about 170 species of herbaceous plants inhabiting South-East Asia. Species of Aspidistra show extremely high diversity of flower morphology. However, features of vegetative organs are poor. Thus, species of Aspidistra usually cannot be recognized without flowers. Within present study, features of micromorphology of leaf epidermis are investigated in more than 40 species of Aspidistra. Taxonomic significance of these characters and usefulness for species recognition are tested. Leaves were collected from living plants of Aspidistra (mostly from cultivation) and fixed in 70% ethanol. The material was critical-point dried and observed using a scanning electron microscope. It was found out that sculpture of cuticle and presence of papillae varies in leaf epidermis of different species of Aspidistra. Also these characters are sufficiently stable within a species. Surface of cuticle may be smooth, tuberous or rugose. Epidermis may be densely papillate, absently papillate or without papillae. All investigated species of Aspidistra can be divided into several groups by combination of these characters. Each group comprises species which can be distinguished from each other by morphological features of leaves and rhizome. These micromorphological characters are useful for taxonomy and can be used for recognition of species in case of flower absence. The study was funded by RFBR according to the research project N. 18-34-20135.