Stomatal complex types, stomatal density, and the stomatal index in some species of Dioscorea

Abstract

Dioscorea alata L. has three stomatal complex types, namely, paracytic, anisocytic, and tetracytic stomata, with percentage frequency values of 50, 18, and 32, respectively. Dioscorea bulbifera has paracytic and anisocytic stomata, with percentage frequency values of 87.60 and 12.40, respectively. Dioscorea cayenensis has anisocytic stomata, with a percentage frequency value of 100. Dioscorea dumetorum has tetracytic and paractytic stomata, with percentage frequency values of 91.05 and 8.95, respectively. Both D. esculenta and D. rotundata have paracytic stomata, with a percentage frequency of 100. The range of variation of stomatal density is from 10 (lowest value) in D. alata and D. dumentorum to 27 (highest value) in D. bulbifera. The stomatal index also varies, from 24 in D. alata to 47 in D. cayenensis. The size of stomata in all species is small, varying in length from 0.74 μm in D. alata to 1.79 μm in D. dumentorum. An indented dichotomous key based on stomatal features was constructed to distinguish and identify the species.