Leaf morphology variation of Murraya paniculata

Abstract

Murraya paniculata is cultivated mainly as an ornamental plant due to attractiveness and fragrance of its flowers. Apart from that this species is used for oil extraction and in traditional medicine. However, there is a morphological variation of this species in different geographic locations and a knowledge gap is present on the morphological diversity of Murraya paniculata species. Therefore, this study was carried out to fill the gap of knowledge on diversity of Sri Lankan Murraya paniculata through morphological characterization. An eco-geographic survey was carried out using snowball Sampling. Data were obtained from 11 districts and 149 accessions were used for this study. Vegetative propagation of the total collection for ex-situ conservation were carried out. The collection was established at University of Colombo, Institute for Agro-Technology and Rural Science, Hambantota. The collection was characterized by 9 qualitative characteristics and 8 quantitative characteristics of leaf and a wide variation was observed for leaf qualitative characters namely leaf arrangement, leaflet shape, leaflet apex shape, leaflet base. Leaf Arrangement was varied from alternate to Subopposite. Different shapes such as Ovate, Elliptical, Oval, broadly oval, Lanceolate, Rambold and Obcordate were identified in leaflets. Moreover, leaf bases also showed variation with Acute, Rounded, Oblique and Cunate leaf bases. When considering the leaflet characteristics leaflet width was positively correlated with leaflet length (+0.745). Petiole length also showed a positive correlation with leaflet length (+0.536). A higher morphological variation was observed in the studied accessions. There is a high potential in utilizing this variation for the plant breeders for the selection and breeding purposes.

Keywords: Accessions, Diversity, Germplasm, Morphological characters, Murraya paniculata