Comparative epidermal anatomical studies in six taxa of genus Nephrolepis Swart in Nigeria

Anatomical studies in six taxa of genus Nephrolepis; N. biserrata, N. cordifolia, N. exaltata (i) & (ii), N. biserrata var. furcans and N. undulata were carried out with a view to identify anatomic characters of taxonomic values. Both qualitative and quantitative anatomical studies were carried out. Quantitative data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. Anatomical characters studied include venation patterns, trichome types, presence and absence of stomata and values of the stomatal index which are valuable in delimiting the species. The overall results showed overlaps in the quantitative anatomical attributes of the Nephrolepis taxa studied suggesting that they belong to the same genus. Qualitative anatomical attributes that separated the genus into distinct taxa are the presence of simple multicellular glandular trichomes in N. biserrata and simple multicellular non-glandular trichomes in N. exaltata (i) and N. exalta (ii) while N. biserrata var. furcans and N. undulata have simple unicellular non-glandular trichomes and absence of trichome in N. cordifolia. Presence of anisocytic, diacytic or anomocytic stomata were of diagnostic important in the six taxa