Comparative leaf anatomy in argentine Galactia species

a comparative study of anatomical characters of the leaves of argentine species of genera galactia was carried out in order to evaluate their potential value in taxonomy. in argentine 14 species and some varieties from sections odonia and collaearia can be found. section odonia: g. benthamiana mich., g. dubia dc., g. fiebrigiana burkart var. correntina burkart, g. glaucophylla harms, g. gracillima benth., g. latisiliqua desv., g. longifolia (jacq.) benth., g. marginalis benth., g. striata (jacq.) urban, g. martioides burkart, g. neesi d. c. var. australis malme, g. pretiosa burkart var. pretiosa, g. texana (scheele) a. gray and g. boavista (vell.) burkart from section collaearia. the characterization of sections is mainly based on reproductive characters, vegetative ones (exomorphological aspects) are scarcely considered. the present paper provides a description of anatomical characters of leaves in argentine species of galactia. some of them, may have diagnostic value in taxonomic treatment. special emphasis is placed on the systematic significance of the midvein structure. the aim of the present study, covering 10 species (named in bold), is a) to add more data of leaf anatomy characters, thus b) to evaluate the systematic relevance and/ or ecological significance.