Cypsela morphology of lactuca L. and its allied genera (cichoreae-asteraceae) from pakistan and kashmir

The systematic significance of the cypsela morphology of more 30 taxa (25 species, 1 subspecies and 4 varieties) belonging to 3 genera viz. Lactuca L. Cicerbita Wallr. and Prenanthes L. from Pakistan and Kashmir has been studied by using Light Microscope (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and discussed. The morphological characters of cypsela such as size, number of ribs, number of cypsela per capitula, presence or absence of beak, number of series of pappus, color and size of pappus and carpopodium were quite useful for the delimitation of different taxa both at the generic and species level. (author)