Comparative Petiole Anatomy in Membersof Polygonaceae as Medicinal Plants fromDistrict Muzaffarabad, Kashmir Himalayas

The petiole anatomy of some medicinally important species was investigated.The comprehensive explanation of Polygonaceae species is connected to their systematic significance.One of the reliable characteristics that is used for precise species identification is microanatomical attributes.The main objective of the current study was to study the taxonomic significance of the petiole anatomy and ethnobotanical uses of eight Polygonaceae taxa from the Kashmir Himalayan Region.A microtome was used to assess the microanatomical quantitative and qualitative features of the petiole.The qualitative characteristics of the petiole were observed, such as collenchyma cell shape, parenchyma cell shape, epidermal cell shape, and vascular bundles (VBs), with a lot of variations.The number of VBs and length of the petiole were also examined as quantitative characteristics.The largest petiole length was observed in Antigonon leptopus (430 µm), and the shortest was in Rumex hastatus (130 µm).The highest number of VBs were observed in Antigonon leptopus (10), and the lowest in Rumex chalepensis (2).The largest parenchyma length was observed in Rumex chalepensis (23 µm), and the shortest was in Rumex hastatus (4.3 µm).The largest collenchyma width (10.6 µm) and length (14.6 µm) were observed in Rumex crispus, and the minimum was observed in Persicaria berbata.Studied taxa also have high local ethnobotanical uses.Both questionnaires and group discussions were used to collect the ethnobotanical data.The collected data was analyzed using a variety of quantitative metrics, such as use value (UV) and relative frequency citation (RFC).The majority of medicinal plants utilized by local communities were herbs (87.5%), with leaves (53.85%) being the most commonly used plant parts.Among the investigated taxa, Oxyria digyna had the highest use value (1.08), and it also had the highest relative frequency citation (0.88).This study describes the anatomical and ethnobotanical exploration of the Polygonaceae and can be further elaborated for the correct identification using phylogenetic-based micromorphological taxonomic approaches.