SYSTEMATIC SIGNIFICANCE OF FOLIAR CHARACTERS IN THE DELIMITATION OF PASSIFLORA L. (PASSIFLORACEAE) AT THE LOWER TAXONOMIC LEVELS

Passiflora L. (Passifloraceae), commonly known as sour passion fruit, yellow passion fruit or granadilla belongs to the family Passifloraceae and consists of approximately 465 species distributed all over the world except in Arctic and Antarctic regions. The present investigation focused on the foliar morphological diversity of the widely variant genus, Passiflora, at the inter and intra specific levels, with a view to understand the significance of foliar features in the systematics of the genus. The study was undertaken in 27 accessions including 8 species, 5 varieties and 2 hybrids of Passiflora, for analyzing both the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of leaves and trichomes. The investigation revealed the significance of foliar characters in the delimitation of the taxa at the inter specific and intra specific levels in the genus. Diversity at species level was noticed in characters like shape and size of leaf margin, pattern of leaf lobing, size and shape of stipules, number of umbilical glands, length of petiole, type of stomata, and glandular and non glandular trichomes. However, intra specific diversity was evident from the nature of leaf lobing, and in the distribution of glandular and non glandular trichomes. A taxonomic key based on the foliar features was constructed in support of the systematics of Passiflora.