Leaf indumentum and nutlet surface micromorphology of 13 taxa belonging to the Teucrium sect. Teucrium was studied with a scanning electron microscope. We observed 5 trichome types on the nutlets and 8 trichome types on the leaves. Branched trichomes were not found on the nutlets. | Turkish Journal of Botany Turk J Bot (2015) 39: 439-448 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Micromorphological characters on nutlet and leaf indumentum of Teucrium sect. Teucrium (Lamiaceae) in Turkey 1, 2 2 Gülay ECEVİT GENÇ *, Taner ÖZCAN , Tuncay DİRMENCİ Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, İstanbul University, Beyazıt, İstanbul, Turkey 2 Department of Biology Education, Necatibey Faculty of Education, Balıkesir University, Balıkesir, Turkey 1 Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: Leaf indumentum and nutlet surface micromorphology of 13 taxa belonging to the Teucrium sect. Teucrium was studied with a scanning electron microscope. We observed 5 trichome types on the nutlets and 8 trichome types on the leaves. Branched trichomes were not found on the nutlets. Nutlet shapes of the taxa were elliptic, obovate, oblong, or rotund, and their surfaces were generally alveolate with different ornamentations. Some nutlets had longitudinal ridges. The indumentum varied among unrelated species and showed some significant similarities within related species. In Flora of Turkey sect. Teucrium was divided into 2 groups according to leaf fragmentation and other morphological characters. The current study supports this grouping. The indumentum types on nutlets and leaves have a high taxonomical value for the species of the genus. Key words: Teucrium, section Teucrium, Lamiaceae, micromorphology, scanning electron microscopy, leaf indumentum, nutlet surface, Turkey 1. Introduction Teucrium L. belongs to the family Lamiaceae (represented by more than 260 species spread all over the world) and is a large and complex genus. It is mainly distributed in Europe, North Africa, and the temperate parts of Asia (Kastner, 1989; Abu-Assab and Cantino, 1993). The major area of distribution for this genus is the Mediterranean region, containing
