Microscopic diagnosis of the leaf and stem of Lucilia nitens Less., Asteraceae

Abstract

Lucilia nitens is a herb used in folk medicine for treating diarrhoea and popularly called in Brazil "erva-pombinha". Aiming to expand the knowledge on this medicinal plant, this work has dealt with anatomical analysis of the leaf and stem for microscopic diagnosis. Standard procedures of light and scanning electron microscopy were carried out. The leaf is amphistomatous and has abundant non-glandular trichomes and few glandular ones. The mesophyll is isobilateral and the midrib, in transection, is planoconvex. It is traversed by a collateral vascular bundle presenting sclerenchymatic caps. The stem has onelayered epidermis, lacunar collenchyma and parenchymatic pith. Among the sieve elements and parenchymatic cells, there are strips of fibres in the phloem. The xylem is wholly lignified and the tracheary elements are aligned in rows. These combined characters, with emphasis on the peculiar type of the non-glandular trichomes, are useful for anatomical diagnosis of the species for pharmacognostical purposes.