COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY OF THE COCHLOSPERMACEAE. II. ANATOMY OF THE YOUNG VEGETATIVE SHOOT

The generic scope and systematic position of the Cochlospermaceae were evaluated using observations from the anatomy of the stem, node, and leaf. There are few basic differences in vegetative anatomy between Amoreuxia and Cochlospermum. Secretory cells and canals, dilated phloem rays, and banded phloem are unifying features. Mature nodal anatomy is 3-trace, trilacunar, and the leaves of both genera have elongate, unicellular, branched idioblasts in the spongy mesophyll. Bixa has some features in common with Amoreuxia and Cochlospermum but is distinctive in vascularization of the petiole, leaf anatomy, and vestiture. Rhopalocarpus is quite different from the above genera, and its placement in a separate family is justified on anatomical grounds. The Cochlospermaceae, consisting of Amoreuxia and Cochlospermum, seem more closely related to the Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae than to the Flacourtiaceae, Cistaceae, or Violaceae.