The morphology of hairs in species of Plantago L. Sections: Novorbis Decne and Mesembrynia Decne

Abstract

This paper is a continuation of the investigation of hairs in representatives of various sections of the genus <i>Plantago</i> L.(Andrzejewska-Golec and Świętosławski 1987, 1988, 1989 a, b, 1991, in press 2). It deals with the species of the related sections: <i>Novorbis</i> Decne (3 species) and <i>Mesembrynia</i> Decne (5 species). The investigated taxa of both sections have one type of headed hair (typical of the representatives of the genus <i>Plantago</i>) as well as three types of headless hairs: 1) 1-3-celled-bristle-shaped, 2) consisting of several cells, and 3) multicellular-web-like. Only slight differences between the hairs of the investigated taxa of sections <i>Novorbis</i> and <i>Mesembrynia</i> were noticed. The hairs of the representatives of these sections are also similar to the hairs of representatives of another section, related to those mentioned above, viz. <i>Lamprosantha</i> Decne (Andrzejewska-Golec and Świętosławski 1991).