Estruturas secretoras de mucilagem em Hibiscus pernambucensis Arruda (Malvaceae): distribuição, caracterização morfoanatômica e histoquímica

No presente trabalho foram estudadas as estruturas secretoras de mucilagem de Hibiscus pernambucensis aos microscópios de luz e de varredura. Conhecida como guaxima-do-mangue e algodão-do-brejo, é espécie nativa encontrada no litoral brasileiro, vegetando áreas de manguezal e restinga, tendo grande importância ecológica nestes ecossistemas. É importante produtora de fibras têxteis e celulose, fornece abundante mucilagem suscetível das mesmas aplicações medicinais de outras malváceas, além da presença de tanino. Coléteres, glândulas peroladas, tricomas secretores longo-pedunculados, canais, cavidades e idioblastos foram observados. Os coléteres ocorrem no ápice caulinar, estípulas, primórdios foliares, folhas, sépalas e pétalas jovens. As glândulas peroladas são encontradas nas superfícies adaxial e abaxial dos primórdios foliares. Os canais e as cavidades encontram-se distribuídos nos eixos vegetativo aéreo e reprodutivo. Os idioblastos ocorrem nas raízes, em estágios primários e secundários de desenvolvimento e no mesofilo foliar. A secreção presente nas diferentes estruturas secretoras é constituída predominantemente por polissacarídeos ácidos e neutros, podendo ocorrer proteínas, lipídeos e substâncias fenólicas. A presença de mucilagem, tanto na superfície como no interior dos órgãos, em diferentes fases do ciclo vegetativo e reprodutivo, representa um importante mecanismo adaptativo e de sobrevivência da espécie aos ambientes de restinga e mangue.This work studied the mucilage-secreting structures of Hibiscus pernambucensis using light and scanning electron microscopy. Known as guaxima-do-mangue, algodão-do-brejo and embira-do-mangue, this species is a native shrub that occurs in mangrove and restinga along the Brazilian coast, and is important in the production of textile fibers and cellulose, provides abundant mucilage that is used medicinally like other Malvaceae species, and has tannins. The results of this work found colleters, pearl glands, long-stalked secretory trichomes, ducts, cavities and idioblasts. The colleters occur on the shoot apices, stipules, leaf primordia, leaves, young sepals and petals. The pearl glands are present in the adaxial and abaxial surface of the leaf primordia. The ducts and the cavities occur in the vegetative and reproductive shoot apices. The idioblasts occur in the roots, both in primary and secondary stages of development, and in the leaf mesophyll. The secretion of the different secretory structures is made predominantly of acids and neutral polysaccharides, proteins, lipids and phenolic substances. The presence of external and internal mucilage-secreting structures in all plant organs, at different stages of development, represents an important adaptive mechanism to restinga and mangrove environments

Morphology, secretion composition, and ecological aspects of stipular colleters in Rubiaceae species from tropical forest and savanna

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Processo FAPESP: 2008/55434-7Processo FAPESP: 2011/02488-5CNPq: 473289/2010Colleters are secretory structures that produce and release mucilage or a mucilage-resin mixture protecting meristems and young structures against desiccation, herbivores, and pathogens. The secretions may vary in colleters of same or different types, indicating that the functionality of colleters may be more specific than previously thought. In this study, we compared 17 Rubiaceae species from savanna and forest environment focusing on colleter secretions and its ecological role. First, we evaluated the morphology, distribution, and histochemistry of stipular colleters using light and scanning electron microscopy. Additionally, we investigated the phenology, microclimate, and the proportion of damaged apices in the savanna and forest species. We recorded standard-type colleters, variable in distribution and size, in 14 of the 17 studied species. The secretion varied from predominantly hydrophilic, mixed to predominantly lipophilic. During the budding period, secretion covered the vegetative apices. Savanna species had a prevalence of lipid secretion in habitats with higher luminosity, which had a lower proportion of damaged apices. In contrast, forest species occurred in habitats with lower luminosity and had a higher proportion of damaged apices, in general with the absence of lipids in the colleters. These results highlight that colleters with similar morphology clearly differed in secretions among species, especially between species from savanna and forest, in which the colleters appear potentially associated with protection against irradiation in savanna, but not in the forest environment