Morphological and anatomical studies on two endemic sempervivum species (s. brevipilum & s. gillianiae) (crassulaceae) distributed inTtürkiye

In this study, the morphological, anatomical and trichome characteristics of the vegetative and generative organs of two Sempervivum L. (Life flower) species (Sempervivum brevipilum and S. gillianiae), which are very similar to each other in terms of morphological characteristics, were compared. Of these two species endemic to Türkiye, S. brevipilum is the Irano-Turanian element, S. gillianiae is the Euxine element. The root, stem, leaf, sepal, petal and trichome structures of the taxa were examined in detail. Morphological examinations were made on fresh plants and herbarium specimens using light and stereo microscopes. Fresh plant specimens and 70% alcohol materials were used in anatomical examinations. In anatomical studies, cross-sections were taken from the root, stem, rosette leaf, sepal and petals of taxa, surface sections were taken from the upper and lower surfaces of leave, sepal and petals. In morphological studies, different morphological features such as plant height, root length and structure, stolon structure and diameter, rosette diameter, condition of rosette leaves (common and collective), shape, color, number, width and lenght, hairiness, stem height and color, width, length and color of stem leaves, number of flowers in the panicle on the stem, color, width and length, fleshy condition, the tip structure of the sepals, color, length, tip structure, number of petals, length, filament color, stamen length and number, ovary structure and length, stylus length, female organ length, habitats, height, flowering time were determined. In addition, similar characteristics were found in the vegetative and generative organs of these species, such as rosette leaves are curled and fleshy, tip structures of rosette leaves, root color, stem is erect and densely hairy, stem leaf structure and pubescence, pedicel length, sepals are adjacent, pubescence and number of sepals, free petals, petal width, shape and hairiness, anther color, attachment to filaments, fruit structure and number of seeds, color and length. Anisocytic stomata were observed on both upper and lower surfaces of the rosette leaves of the two species. The edges (walls) of the adjacent cells of the stomata are straight in S. brevipilum, while they are slightly undulate in S. gillianiae. The mesophyll of the species is unifacial structure. In the vegetative and generative organs of the two taxa, tannins and multicellular biseriate and uniseriate glandular trichomes were densely found. In addition, capitate glandular trichomes with one and two stalk and head cells were detected. The number of periderm and cortex layers in the root, periderma width and length, cortex parenchyma diameter, xylem tracheal diameter in the root, whether tannins are dense or not, the cuticle layer structure in the stem and whether micropapillae are present or not, the number of cortex layers, whether the xylem is straight or undulate, the edge structure of biseriate glandular trichomes (straight or micropapillae), epidermis cell diameter, core parenchyma and xylem trachea diameter in the stem, the length, shape and edge structure of the upper and lower epidermis cells of the rosette leaf, cuticle thickness, mesophyll parenchyma diameter, stomata width and length, the number and shape of the mesophyll layer of the rosette leaf and sepal, the wall structure of the adjacent cells of the stomata in the sepals and rosette leaves, upper epidermis cell length, width and length of lower epidermis cell in sepals, the thinness or thickness of the cuticle layer of the petals, epidermis cell diameter, wall structure of epidermis cells of petal and the number of mesophyll layers were determined as important distinguishing anatomical characters between the two species. It has been determined that there are differences in the lengths of multicellular biseriate and multicellular uniseriate glandular and capitate glandular trichomes seen in the vegetative and generative organs of these two species. Namely; multicellular biseriate short glandular trichomes on the stem, multicellular long uniseriate and multicellular biseriate long glandular and long capitate glandular trichomes on the margins of rosette leaves, multicellular short uniseriate and capitate glandular trichomes on the blade on the upper surface of the leaf, multicellular biseriate short glandular trichomes at the apex, multicellular biseriate long glandular trichomes on the sepal (blade) and multicellular biseriate short glandular trichomes on the petal (blade), and statistical analyses determined that there were significant differences between the two species (p<0.05). While the edge structure of the multicellular biseriate glandular trichomes on the stem of S. brevipilum is micropapillated, the edge structure of the multicellular biseriate glandular trichomes on the stem of S. gillianiae is smooth. On the other hand, sparse (usually single) multicellular biseriate glandular trichomes were found on the apex of the leaves of both taxa, and micropapillae were found on the stalk parts of the multicellular biseriate glandular and capitate glandular trichomes on the leaves. In addition, it was observed that there were no significant differences in the density and sparseness of the multicellular biseriate long and short, multicellular uniseriate short and long, capitate glandular trichomes observed in the vegetative and generative organs of these two Sempervivum species. Similar and different morphological, anatomical and trichome features are given in tables. Mann Whitney U test was applied to the measurement results of morphological, anatomical and trichomes characteristics. According to the result of the Mann-Whitney U test applied to the morphological characteristics of vegetative and generative organs, the differences in stolon diameter,sepal width and length, petal length, petal number, number of flowers in the cluster, pistil length, ovary length, plant and stem length and rosette diameter were found to be significant (p<0.05). In addition, the differences in anatomical characteristics such as root cortex parenchyma cell diameter, periderma width and length, xylem trachea diameter, stem pith parenchyma cell diameter, epidermis cell diameter, xylem trachea diameter, lenght of upper and lower epidermis cells in rosette leaves, mesophyll parenchyma cell diameter, stoma width and length, upper epidermis cell length in sepal, lower epidermis cell width and length, lower epidermis cell diameter in petal were found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). It was emphasized that different morphological, anatomical and trichome characteristics are valuable taxonomic features that can be used to distinguish these two Sempervivum species.