Comparative root anatomy of Duchesnea indica, Fragaria vesca and Potentilla tucumanensis (Rosaceae) in Tucumán province, Argentina

We report the morphological and anatomical characterization of the primary and secondary structures of root systems in Duchesnea indica (Andrews) Focke, Fragaria vesca L. and Potentilla tucumanensis Castagnaro & Arias, three species that show a main tap-root with a variable branching pattern. Mother plants of F. vesca present main roots with a primary structure of the diarch type, a secondary structure with a polyderm, and adventitious roots from diarch to pentarch stele. Mother plants of D. indica and P. tucumanensis do not form adventitious roots, the primary structure is a diarch, and the secondary structure lacks a polyderm. Daughter plants of D. indica and F. vesca form adventitious roots with variable steles, from diarch to polyarch. Tracheids were only observed in F. vesca and P. tucumanensis. Our results show that the number of protoxylem poles, and the occurrence of tracheids and polyderm constitute valuable diagnostic characters for the identification of these species.