Comparative morphological and anatomical studies of leaves, stem, and roots of Selinum vaginatum C. B. Clarke and Selinum tenuifolium Wall.

Abstract Selinum is a perennial herb that inhabits high altitudes in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and adjoining areas of the western Himalayas in India. It is medicinally important and has been exploited over the years for its economically important plant parts like roots, leaves, etc. It is for this reason that the plant is endangered now and is listed in the red data book. Selinum has many species of which two of them are extremely prevalent in the western Indian Himalayas. A comparative study was conducted on different plant parts (leaves, stem, and roots) of Selinum vaginatum C.B. Clarke and Selinum tenuifolium Wall. (Apiaceae) collected from various locations of Rohtang valley at different altitudes in Himachal Pradesh. Several morphological and anatomical characters were investigated in both the species, and it was inferred that different plant parts in the two species exhibit a wide range of inter-altitudinal variations in anatomical and morphological characters. The present paper represents a comparative study of morphological and anatomical characters of leaf, root and stem of S. vaginatum and S. tenuifolium from three locations, Gulaba, Kothi, and Rohtang valley and is first of its kind report from India on this species.