Scanning electron microscopic and IR finger printing study as taxonomic character in medicinally important Spiny Nightshade Solanum virginianum L.

Electron microscopic characters were widely used for taxonomic circumscription. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been used as an important tool to resolve finer structures of biological specimens for specific identification and characterization. Ultrastructural features obtained from SEM often constitute a valuable source of information in diagnosing already circumscribed taxa and/or in phylogenetic inference. In the present study, pollen, seed and leaf of Solanum virginianum were analysed by scanning electron microscopy. SEM of seed coat showed compactly packed irregular units delimited by prominent ridges along the boundaries which are inconspicuous towards the hilum region. Seed is more or less oval which becomes little extended in the hilar region. Upper leaf surface of Solanum virginianum showed the presence of long multicellular non glandular hairs with bulbous tip, short stalked multicellular glandular hairs and multicellular non glandular stalked hairs with pointed tip whereas, lower leaf surface showed few stellate hairs, long multicellular non glandular hairs with bulbous tip and multicellular non glandular stalked hairs with pointed tip. Stomatal indices for the upper and lower leaf epidermises varied from 3.92 to 8.44 respectively and the vein islet number showed a value of 11.7. Pollen grains are small, globular, trizonocolporate with microechinate ornamentation. Pollen dimorphism was noticed in terms of small and large grains. Large grains are without operculum. The IR fingerprints for the species are 3059, 1020, 1101 and 1317 which are unique in terms of its alkaloid and phenolic content.

Author(s): Anil Kumar V. S., Meenu Krishnan V. G. and Murugan K.

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