Asexual Morphological Differences in Male and Female Plants of Commiphora w ightii (Arn.) Bhandari - An Endangered Medicinal Plant

Studies were carried out on growth characteristics, stem branching pattern and leaf morphology to reveal the significant differences in male and female plants and development of reliable morphological markers to identify gender even in non-flowering phase. Female plants have spreading growth and weeping canopy whereas male plants have erected growth and divergent canopy. Female plants have significantly higher height (p = 0.06) and collar diameter (p = 0.03) than males. Similarly, female plants also have higher number of secondary and tertiary branches with wider branch angles leading to the differences in canopy shape and size between two genders. Other morphological differences observed in female and male plants are in leaf characters viz. leaf area, leaf margin and number. Male plants were only having higher stomatal density (p = 0.03) on both the sides of leaves as compared to females. Guggulsterone-Z was detected only in aerial branches of female plants (0.014-0.029%) and in males it was below detectable limits.