Abstract

STOMATAL STUDIES ON SOME SELECTED PLANTS OF MALVACEAE

Chachad D. P.* and Meenakshi Vaidya.

Abstract

Malvaceae family is well known for its economic importance. Plants like Hibiscus esculantus is commonly used as a vegetable called ‘Okra’ Adensonia digitata, known as baobab tree has a lot of medicinal potential. Bombax ceiba yields Kapok which is a very fluffy material made from the abundant silken hairs that are attached to the ripe seeds of several species in the silk cotton family. As mentioned in the literature, plants belonging to Malvaceae are economically important not only with respect to edible purposes but are also known to be exploited for their medicinal potential. Anatomy is a very useful tool for identification (taxonomy). Epidermal characters can prove to be of importance with respect to identification of a particular plant species. This can also provide reliable information in standardisation of an ayurvedic/herbal drug.

Keywords: Stomata, Malvaceae, Epidermal characters.