Comparative studies of mucilage cells in different organs in some species of Malva, Althaea and Alcea

Abstract

Distribution of Mucilage Cells (MC) in leaves and petals of two species of Malva L.: Malva neglecta Wallr and M. nicaeensis All, one species of Altheae L.: A. officinalis L. and one species of Alcea L: A. angulata (Freyn and Sint.) Freyn and Sint. ex Iljin, have studied. Except of A. angulata that mucilage cells observed both in epidermis and mesophyll of leaves, in the others mucilage cells confined to epidermis cells. All of species have mucilage cells in the petals. The area of the mucilaginous elements in the leaves and petals of species determined planimetrically on definite cross-sections was studied as a comparative element to the mucilage content determined by extracting the raw mucilage by Hot Extraction Method (HEM) and then by comparing the dry weight, comparison between species was done. A correlation between the greater area of the mucilaginous elements and the mucilage content measured by methods mentioned was shown, basing on different microscopic examination of cross-sections of the organs fixed and stained with ruthenium red. The results were shown that mucilage content in the leaves of Malva neglecta was more than the others and mucilage content in petals of Malva neglecta was more than the others. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information.