MICROSTRUCTUAL FEATURES OF VEGETATIVE ORGANS OF ACONITUM NUSUTUM FISCH. EX REICHENB., AN ALKALOID-CONTAINING PLANT WIDESPREAD IN GEORGIA

Abstract

Anatomical structure of the common in the forests and meadows of the Georgian subalpine zone plant - Aconitum nasutum Fisch. ex Reichenb - underground and aerial vegetative organs, rich in diterpene alkaloids, was studied. A set of diagnostic features has been established using the accepted microtechnical methods. The conductive system the axial organs of A. nasutum, root, twig and leaf stalk, has a separated collateral structure. Casparian strips are prominent in the root endoderma but no clearly expressed radial interaction with the conductive tissue is observed. The thickening of the inner membrane of the differentiated conductive vessels in the wood is circular-spiral and reticular. Basal cells of the epidermis of the twig are arranged in a stitched, linear, thistle-rhombic structure. The underlying curved-walled type cells of the upper and lower epidermis of the leaf are non-curved and stitched. Both in the epidermis of the twig and in the leaf-covering tissue, the buds are simple, anomocytic in appearance. The leaf of A. nasutum has a bifacial shape, dorso-ventral, hypostomatic structure, a conductive bundle has collateral structure, and conical shaped villi of the leaf are single-celled.