Morphological study of some taxa of Ranunculaceae Juss in Egypt (anatomy and pollen grains)

Ranunculaceae is a large angiospermic family (43 genera and 2346 species). Seven taxa were subjected in the present study representing six genera. Stem anatomy, flower anatomy, lamina epidermal characters as well as the pollen morphology were carried out according to traditional taxonomic methods using LM and SEM. The specific target of the present study is to contribute knowledge to Ranunculaceae from different perspectives. The obtained microcharacters of stem, leaf and flowers are considered diagnostic at the generic and specific levels (e.g., stem outline, types of cortex, internal appearance of stem, leaf types, perianth vascularization and presence of nectary scales). The pollen characters of the studied taxa are considered highly diagnostic at the generic and specific levels especially pollen class (trizonocolpate, pantocolpate and pantoporate) and pollen sculpture (aculeate, verrucate-aculeate, aculeate-faveolate and scabrate-verrucate). The obtained data facilitate the construction of artificial keys to delimitation between the studied taxa.