The genus Iris L., comprising approximately 210 species, is one of the most species-rich genera in the family Iridaceae. In this study, the first comprehensive leaf micromorphological characters of Korean irises were studied using light and scanning electron microscopy. Our objective was to evaluate the foliar micromorphological characteristics (namely epidermal cells, stomata types, and guard cell size) of Korean Iris taxa in a systematic context. All the investigated Korean Iris taxa had amphistomatic or hypostomatic leaves with anomocytic stomatal complexes. Guard cell length varied among species, ranging from 24.8 μm (I. rossii) to 56.0 μm (I. domestica). Although the presence of papillae on the outer periclinal wall is not of taxonomic significance, leaf margin pattern, guard cell size, and sunken stomata type were useful for species-level identification of Korean Iris species. The occurrence of polymorphic stomatal types was reported here for the first time, and the correlation between genome size and epidermal guard cell length was discussed.
Keywords: Korean irises; leaf microstructure; light microscopy; scanning electron microscopy; stomatal complex.
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