Micromorphology Characters of Maca (Lepidium meyenii)

The leaf epidermal features, pollen grain morphology and micromorphology characters of seed coats of Lepidium meyenii in different color from different origin were studied under the optical microscope (OM) and environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) in this paper.The results show that:(1)L.meyenii in different color has high consistency in the micromorphology of leaf epidermis and pollen grain,but there are significant differences between L.meyenii and part of common Lepidium in China; (2)L.meyenii in different color from different origin has obvious differences in the micromorphology of seed coats.Our research provides some new evidence for the germplasm identification and classification of the new plant resource L. meyenii.