Morpho-anatomical petiole characteristics of the beech in natural populations in Serbia

Abstract

In the paper, there have been analyzed petioles of the beech collected from ten natural populations in Serbia. Due to performing this research, different morphological and anatomical elements of the petiole have been observed. As for morphological elements, following have been included: petiole length (cm), petiole width (mm), and petiole thickness (mm), while quantitative anatomical elements included width of central cylinder (mm) and thickness of central cylinder (mm). On the other side, based on number, distribution and shape of vascular bundles, anatomical structure of the petiole was followed. Methods of descriptive statistics have been performed in order to determine variability of each element. From anatomical point of view, slight differences have been found between different populations. As for morphological features, petiole length is the least changeable, while petiole width is the most variable. Among quantitative anatomical features, central cylinder length is the least changeable. The vascular structure of petioles and their anatomy could successfully be used as a taxonomic character.