THE USE OF EPIDERMAL CHARACTERS IN PHYLOGENETIC CONSIDERATIONS

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Abstract
Summary: In order to ascertain the phylogenetic significance associated with leaf epidermal characters eight genera of mangroves in the families Combretaceae, Rhizophoraceae and Avicenniaceae were compared with each other and with non‐mangrove genera of the same families. The mangrove genera share a number of common features, but are easily separated into three groups coinciding with the three families. Further differences, of successively lesser order, enable all eight genera and some of the species within them to be distinguished. With regard to epidermal characters the mangroves of any one family show closer resemblance to the non‐mangroves of the same family than to mangroves of other families. Differentiation by epidermal characters thus closely parallels that by characters more usually used in plant taxonomy.