Dried leaves of representative specimens from Quaid-i-Azam
University herbarium, Islamabad, Pakistan of Persicaria Mill. of the
family Polygonaceae given in Table 1 were used for anatomical
studies. Dried leaves were placed in boiling water for few min so
that they became soft and unfolded and then ready for epidermal
scrapping. Leaf samples were prepared according to modified
method of Cotton (1974), who followed Clark’s (1960) technique.
The leaves were placed in a tube filled with 88% lactic acid kept hot
in boiling water bath (Model, Memmert-91126-FRG, Germany) for
about 30 to 40 min. Lactic acid softens the leaf due to which it was
possible to scrap the leaf surface with sharp scalpel. Slides of both
abaxial and adaxial surface of leaf were prepared and mounted in
clean 88% lactic acid. Both qualitative and quantitative micromorphological
foliar characteristics were observed using light
microscope. Microhistological photographs of both surfaces were
taken by Nikon (FX-35) Camera equipped light microscope.