SEED MORPHOLOGICAL STUDIES ON SOME MONOCOT FAMILIES (EXCLUDING GRAMINEAE) AND THEIR PHYLOGENETIC IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

Seed morphological studies of 46 taxa from Pakistan belonging to 7 monocotyledenous families viz., Alismataceae, Araceae, Arecaceae, Commelinaceae, Cyperaceae, Eriocaulaceae and Iridaceae included in 5 monotyledonous orders viz., Alismatales, Arecales, Asparagales, Commelinales and Poales have been carried out by using light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Great variation in various seed morphological characters have been observed at order, family, subfamily, generic and specific levels. These seed micromorphological characters are used to assess the evolutionary relationship among the families of the studied taxa.