FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY OF THE VEGETATIVE ORGANS OF TEN AQUILEGIA L. SPECIES

Abstract

Establishment of patterns in the functional morphology of the vegetative organs of plants in new conditions allows to determine traits that are important in adaptation and to predict success of introduction of species in the Ukrainian steppe zone. We analysed the functional morphology of the vegetative organs of 10 Aquilegia L. species having applied methods widely used in anatomy, morphology and ecology. The groups of species were compared on the basis of their eco-geographical origin using ANOVA test, as a result of which, we found out diagnostic features of a successful adaptation of some of them. These features are a large volume of the root system, a greater thickness of the hypocotyl, a larger petiole xylem area of the leaf and a higher stomatal index. A diagnostic trait of successful adaptation of species is a smaller value of the ratio of the petiole diameter to its length in comparison with other researched species. Our search for dependencies and determination of their degree revealed that plant biomass, in particular of its above-ground part, and plant petiole parameters (diameter, the area of its cross-section and of its xylem, quantity of the conducting bundles) correlate with the volume of the root system and with the hypocotyl thickness. We analyzed 52 morphological and anatomical attributes of species of the genus Aquilegia and 9 climatic factors of their natural habitat. It was detected that ecological and geographical origin of the species affects the anatomical and morphological characteristics of their vegetative organs.