Morpho-anatomic characterization of vegetative organs of Cattleya walkeriana Gardner (Orchidaceae) - DOI: 10.4025/actascibiolsci.v26i1.1664

Abstract

The epiphytic orchids species have singular morpho-anatomic adaptations, which enable them to stay in places where water and nutrients scarcity are frequent, such as trees branch and trunk. The tissues specialized in water reservation are common in these species, as much as in leaves, roots and pseudobulbs. This study aimed to distinguish morpho-anatomically the vegetative organs of ,em>Cattleya walkeriana Gardner. Their leaves are coriaceous-fleshy in texture, covered by thick cuticle, hypostomatic and their mesophyll tends to the dorsal-ventral. In the pseudobulbs, the cuticle and some underlying cell layers waterproof the fundamental parenchyma, formed by big cells that reserve water and grains of starch. The vascular bundles are collateral, and the longest ones have sclerenchyma cap in both conductor tissue poles. In the roots, the velamen and the cortical tissue are formed by several cell layers, although both exoderm and endoderm are not very thick