A Taxonomical Study of Carissa Macrocarpa (Eckl.) A.Dc (Apocynaceae) In Iraq.

Abstract

The current study looks at a number of standardized factors, such as morphological, anatomical, and chemical features, that may be useful in identifying Carissa macrocarpa (Eckl.) A. DC. In terms of microscopical characteristics, Carissa macrocarpa is distinguished by the presence of calcium oxalate crystals in almost all parts of the plant. the phenotypic study included a study of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of each root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit and seed. It extracted several interesting characteristics that distinguish C. macrocarpa from the rest of the genus Carissa, as well as from the rest of the species belonging to the Apocynaceae, including the presence of hard thorns spread along the length of the plant, which takes the defensive method as well as the Aestivation method by turning the petals lobes towards the left, as well as the length of the petals compared to the petal tube, which is one of the important diagnostic characteristics and was developed as a key to diagnosing the species belonging to the mentioned genus. As for the anatomical aspect, the characteristics of the upper and lower epidermis of the leaf, the floral parts and the epidermis of the stem were measured and described, as well as the transverse sections of each of the leaves and their peduncle and stem, , as well as the study of the venation system in the leaf. It was found that many of these traits are important in diagnosing the species, as it was distinguished by having leaves of the Hypostomatic type, and the transverse section of the Monofacial leaf. The study also dealt with the chemical content of the methanolic extract of the leaf, where the compounds were diagnosed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), It was found that eight chemical compounds are resulting from secondary metabolism, which have an effective role in medical treatments and as a defence mechanism for plants, the most important of which is the glycoside compound.α.-d-6,3-Furanose,methyl-.β.-d-glucohexodialdo-1,4-furanoside, which occupied the highest percentage of approximately 92.83% of the total percentage of the area of Peaks.