The paper presents the results of an anatomical and morphological study of leaves of wintergreen herbaceous plants from the collection of the Donetsk Botanical Garden: Waldsteinia ternata (Stephan) Fritsch, Geranium × cantabrigiense P.F. Yeo, Bergenia crassifolia (L.) Fritsch and Helleborus caucasicus
A. Braun. The study was carried out using light microscopy. Cuticle thickness, epicuticular wax
development and pubescence characteristics were analyzed. It was established that B. crassifolia and H. caucasicus are characterized by a well-developed cuticular-wax barrier and maximum cuticle thickness, whereas W. ternata and G. × cantabrigiense possess a thinner cuticle compensated by dense pubescence. The revealed differences reflect various adaptive strategies of plants under conditions of climatic variability and changing light regime.
Pyatnitsa N.V., Glukhov A.Z.
