Research Training Program

Matthew W. Jackson
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island

Robert Faden, Ph.D.
Supervising Scientist
Department of Botany

"I find no surprise in the staggering diversity of taxonomic characters, but the surprise and challenge of systematics lies in finding those characters that are useful and informative."

The plant family Commelinaceae encompasses a group of plants spread around the world in temperate regions and tropical regions. Within this family, the tropical subtribe Coleotrypinae contains three genera from Africa and Asia. Previous classifications and descriptions of the subtribe, and its genera, used predominantly morphological and reproductive characters, with little attention paid to leaf anatomy. Few studies have used leaf anatomy to distinguish genera amongst the subtribe, and this project was to determine the usefulness of leaf anatomy in classifying subtribe Coleotrypinae. After preparing cross-sections, wholemount clearings, epidermal scrapes, and scanning electron microscope images of leaves, from each of the three genera, leaf anatomy data was gathered using the above techniques. Characters included the presence, type and arrangement of silica bearing cells on the leaf's surface. Once collected, the characters were analyzed to see if they could be used to differentiate among the genera within the subtribe. This analysis showed that leaf anatomy does not distinguish genera from each other in this subtribe and provides few characters that describe the group.