Glossary Details – Lecythidaceae

Glossary Details:

Stomatal types distinguishing two species in two different genera. Drawing by Y.-Y. Huang.

Title: Two stomatal types in Gustavia. Drawing by C. A. Gracie.

Description: Anomocytic and anisocytic stomata of two species of the actinomorphic-flowered Gustavia from central French Guiana. Drawing from Mori & Black in Mori & collaborators (1987). It is clear that in the anomocytic type illustrated here there is no differentiation between the subsidiary cells and the other epidermal cells. In contrast, in the anisocytic type as illustrated here the single small cell is not markely smaller but there is a consistent difference among the stomata in that one cell is smaller.

Term:

Anomocytic stomata

Definition:

Referring to a stomatal type in which the subsidiary cells surrounding a stomate are not differentiated from the other epidermal cells.

Notes:

In neotropical Lecythidaceae, the arrangement of the subsidiary cells can be used to help circumscribe genera and to identify species to genus, e.g., most species of Gustavia have anomocytic or anisocytic subsidiary cells and many species of zygomorphic-flowered genera have paracytic (= brachyparacytic) subsidiary cells.