Published in Scientific Papers. Series B, Horticulture, Vol. LXIII, Issue 2
Written by Elena SĂVULESCU, Mihaela Ioana GEORGESCU, Vasilica LUCHIAN, Vlad POPA
The assessed species, Vitex agnus-castus L., was taken from Thasos, Greece and cultivated in pots for acclimatization in the botanical garden, to be studied for its medicinal and ornamental use. During the vegetation period, the morphological and anatomical observations were made. It is an aromatic shrub, with opposite leaves, palmatecomposed of 3-5 (7) lanceolate leaflets, entire margins or serrate-dented, 3-7 cm long and 1.5 cm width. The transversal sections were made in the root, stem and leaf. In the root and stem, it was observed that the vascular bundle had a secondary structure. In the epidermis of young stems there are non-glandular hairs and very rarely secretory hairs. In the pith of stem there were seen the starch granules and calcium oxalate crystals. On the epidermis of rachis there are non-glandular and secretory hairs. The epidermis of the leaflets is unistratified, with the corrugated walls and covered by thin cuticle. On the both epidermis of the leaflets there were observed the non-glandular hairs. The secretory hairs were identified mainly on the lower epidermis. The type of stomata is anomocytic, identified only on the lower epidermis. The mesophyll is bifacial with palisade tissue toward upper epidermis and spongy tissue toward lower epidermis.
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