Leaf micromorphological and anatomical features belong to some plants species of Mediterranean origin and distributed in Artvin

Artvin province has three different climate types with oceanic, continental and Mediteranean. In this investigation, leaf micromorphologies and anatomies of four scrub/woody plant species of mediterranean origin (Cotinus coggygria Scop., Rhus coriaria L., Arbutus andrachne L. and Punica granatum L.) and naturally distributed in Artvin were examined by using stereomicroscope, light microscope ve scanning electron microscope (SEM), in detail. Plant samples using in this investigation were collected from Ardanuç, Borçka, Yusufeli and central districts in the year of 2018 during their vegetation periods. The collected samples were identified, dried and stored as herbarium specimens in Artvin Coruh University Herbarium (ARTH). While dried herbarium samples were used for morphological and micromorphological examinations, mature leaf samples obtained from natural fields for anatomical investigations. Micromorphological characteristics of C. coggygria and R. coriaria, and detailed anatomical descriptions and measurements of them were presented here for the first time. While venation types of C. coggygria ve R. coriaria were determined as craspedodromous, A. andrachne and P. granatum have camptodromous-kladodromous and camptodromous-brochidodromous venations, respectively. Differently from others, R. coriaria has capitat glandular trichomes and P. granatum has bicollateral vascular bundle. Secretory canals were detected in the phloem parts of vascular bundles in C. coggygria and R. coriaria, and druses crystals were observed in the parenchymatous cells of the taxa, except for A. andrachne. All investigated species have bifacial leaf, but A. andrachne has three palisade layers, differently from others. The species have hypostomatic type stomata, and the highest stomata number and indexes per mm2 were observed in P. granatum, while the lowest values in A. andrachne.