External leaf morphology of Philippine Cinnamomum schaeffer (Lauraceae)

• Main Author: Abuel, Ma. Coralynne A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2011
• Subjects: Cinnamomum > Philippines—Classification; Plant Biology; Plant Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/5281
• Institution: De La Salle University

The genus Cinnamomum is known for its importance for food and medicine. In the Philippines, the last taxonomic account on the genus was made by Kostermans in 1986. Interest on the genus, particularly the endemic species, must be renewed to seek information for potential uses of the indigenous species, in particular. Practical tools for identification of the species like using diagnostic or spot external leaf characters may prove to be useful for the non-taxonomists. This study, therefore, aims to describe the external leaf morphology of the Philippine Cinnamomum species, to determine the diagnostic characters that can be used to identify the different species, and to determine the characters that can be used to group or describe the relationships of the different species. 42 specimens from Philippine National Herbarium representing 7 species of Philippine Cinnamomum, 17 type specimen images representing 15 species of Philippine Cinnamomum and 99 photos representing 13 species of Philippine Cinnamomum from the National Herbarium of the Netherlands were examined. Different external leaf characters like leaf venation pattern, leaf shape, leaf base, leaf apex, petiole length, leaf length, leaf width, basal nerve, basal nerve length and presence or absence of hairs were studied and tabulated for easier comparison. A dichotomous key was constructed and morphological descriptions were made for each species. The external leaf characters such as the venation pattern, leaf shape, leaf apex, leaf base and basal nerves could be used as diagnostic characters for identification. Cluster analysis using the Ward's Method yielded three groups mainly based on venation pattern, and leaf and dimensions.