Anatomical variations of Deschampsia antarctica É. Desv.plants from distant Antarctic regions, in vitro culture, and in relations to Deschampsia caespitosa (L.) P. Beauv.

Abstract

: This paper presents a comparative study on the anatomy of the Antarctic hairgrass ( Deschampsia antarctica É. Desv.) from natural populations of two distant maritime Antarctic regions: the Argentine Islands (Antarctic Peninsula region) and the Point Thomas oasis (King George Island, South Shetland Islands). Comparison of D. antarctica plants from natural populations of Argentine Islands region and plants originated from seeds of these populations cultivated in vitro also was made. Additionally anatomical features of Deschampsia antarctica were compared with ones for D. caespitosa . The results of our study do not provide enough evidence to assert more pronounced number and size of stomata on the adaxial surface) of Alaskan D. caespitosa grown from seeds were detected in contrast to the naturally grown plants of the same species from Ushuaia.