Epidermal Properties of Aloe vacillans Forsskål Leaf and Its Taxonomical Significance in Classifying its Two Forms

摘要

About 14 leaf epidermal characters (6 epidermal cell properties & 8 stomatal properties) of two forms (red-flowered & yellow-flowered forms) of Aloe vacillans Forsskål (Endemic Species to South West of Arabian Peninsula) were investigated. Only two epidermal cell properties and three stomatal properties show high significance in distinguishing between the two forms of A. vacillans. Moreover; 12 epidermal quantitative characters were subjected to numerical analysis (UPGMA), and the resulted dendrogram segregated the two examined forms at a relatively high similarity level (93.53%). This confirms that the two forms (red form and yellow form) of A. vacillans are two different infra-specific taxa under A. vacillans, which were described as A. audhalica Lavranos and Hardy and A. dhalensis Lavranos.