Buxus anatomy
 

Trying to find information on Buxus ballearica leaf anatomy. Any ideas???

Buxus anatomy
 

Trying to find information on Buxus ballearica leaf anatomy.

It always helps if you spell it right. There is only one L. In a search, I
found a slew of entries on the subject, in various languages. Try this; at
least it's a closeup.
A
HREF="http://www.uib.es/depart/dba/botanica/herbari/generes/Buxus/balearic
a/Buxusbalearica_s.JPG"Buxusbalearica_s.JPG (JG Image, 1396x1603 pixels)/A
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

Buxus anatomy
 

In article ,
wrote...

Trying to find information on Buxus ballearica leaf anatomy. Any ideas???

Sure, try sectioning some leaves with a razor blade, and look at
the sections with a compound microscope. Dried leaves [from herbarium
specimens] can be soaked in water with some dilute detergent or other
wetting agent, and then can often be sectioned satisfactorily.

[Do you suspect B. balearica will differ significantly from
the probably more available Buxus sempervirens?]

http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/an...w/buxaceae.htm
or
http://www.anbg.gov.au/angio/buxaceae.htm
say:

"Leaf anatomy. Lamina dorsiventral. Minor leaf veins
without phloem transfer cells (Buxus)."

http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/...buxalesweb.htm
http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/...b.htm#Buxaceae
says a little about leaves.

The same search also found:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/d/l/dlr17/RPP.pdf

and

http://homepage.uni-tuebingen.de/ani...nnBot-2001.pdf

which must mention Buxus leaves at some point.

http://www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg....report_en.html
says something about the micro-structure of Buxus leaf waxes,
[I think]

http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/e05/r07.htm
illustrates a Buxus sempervirens stomate:

"Stomate at the leaf undersurface of a boxtree (Buxus sempervirens).
The boxtree has no special ecological preference but it is the best
micromorphological example of embossed stomates."

cheers

Buxus anatomy
 

wrote...
Trying to find information on Buxus ballearica leaf anatomy. Any ideas???

mel turner schreef
Sure, try sectioning some leaves with a razor blade, and look at
the sections with a compound microscope.

+ + +
This is good advice, although I am not sure where the compound microscope
comes in
+ + +

http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/an...w/buxaceae.htm
or
http://www.anbg.gov.au/angio/buxaceae.htm
say:

"Leaf anatomy. Lamina dorsiventral. Minor leaf veins
without phloem transfer cells (Buxus)."

http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/...buxalesweb.htm
http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/...b.htm#Buxaceae
says a little about leaves.

+ + +
Careful, such sites tend to have been compiled in haste and are meant as an
indication only, not as a source. Since there was a publication in the Bot.
Journ. Linn. Soc. of last year (and before that too) it may be easier to
browse through the list of references there?
PvR

Buxus anatomy
 

In article , P van
Rijckevorsel writes
Careful, such sites tend to have been compiled in haste and are meant as an
indication only, not as a source. Since there was a publication in the Bot.
Journ. Linn. Soc. of last year (and before that too) it may be easier to
browse through the list of references there?

Also, descriptions of the characters of higher taxa are not always
correct in every character for all subordinate taxa.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Buxus anatomy
 

Thanks for all your responses. Yes, I have been peering down some
microscopes at Buxus specimens. What I am particularly interested in
is what I can only describe as a "rim" on the edge of the leaf. Inside
the rim there appear to be bundles of fibres, which seem to be
possibly silicified (very resistant to ashing and pinkish in colour in
Canada balsam). I have checked various anatomy books and this kind of
structure does occur in other dicot leaves, but what I am after is
confirmation that my interpretation of this case is correct.
Best Wishes,
Martin