Micromorphological characterization of ten mulberry cultivars (Morus spp.)

Biasiolo, Magda, Maria Teresa Da Canal, and Noemi Tornadore (Biology Department, Geobotany Section, Padua University, V. G. Colombo 3, 35121 Padova, Italy; e-mail: tornado@civ.bio.unipd.it). MICROMORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF TEN MULBERRY CULTIVARS (MORUS SPP.) Economic Botany 58(4):639-646, 2004. The micromorphological features of the vegetative and reproductive structures of ten mulberry cultivars grown at the Specialized Sericultural Section of the Agricultural Zoology Experimental Institute of Padua, northeastern Italy, were examined by SEM in order to determine the charactetistics that were the most valuable taxonomically. The observed specimens (leaves, flowers, seeds, and pollen grains) showed micromorphological differences regarding leaf hairiness, quantity of waxes, quality of epidermis cuticle and tepal hairiness. The effects of differing environments in altering the floral sex ratios of this basically monoecious group of plants were also investigated. However, no significant differences between the micromorphology of the seeds and the pollen grains of these selected cultivars were detected. The authors are hopeful that the information gained in this study may prove useful in the future creation of an exhaustive and final catalogue "descriptor" of cultivated varieties belonging to the genus Morus L.