ABSTRACT
Study ultra-structure was accomplished in scanning electronic microscope (SEM) of the foliar trichome of 14 Croton species, that occur in the coast and forest zones on the Pernambuco state, with the objective of characterizing the morphology of each trichome type as auxiliary resource in the identification of the species and also relating them to the classification of Webster. Ten trichome types were registered: stellate-porrect, fasciculate, multiradiate, dendritic, lepidote, stellate-rotate, stellate-lepidote, dentate-lepidote, simple and glandular. In the majority of the taxa, the predominant type was the stellate-porrect. It was possible to observe that for each species the type was constant trichome, revealing therefore, that the tricoma type is an important feature for the taxonomy of the genus.
Key-words:
Trichome morphology; Croton; taxonomy; ultra-structure; Euphorbiaceae