MICROMORPHOLOGICAL STUDY ON LEAVES OF SOME CORDIA (BORAGINACEAE) SPECIES USED IN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE

The genus Cordia (Boraginaceae) is made up of a great many species wid ely distributed iii tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The leaves of Cordia myxa as also those of many other species of the same genus, have been utilized in the traditional medicine of many countri es for the treatment of a variety of diseases. Observed by light micro scope and by scanning electron microscope the histological characteris tics of the leaf of Cordia francisci, C. martinicensis, C. serratifoli a and C. ulmifolia, species grown in Sicily, compared also with those of the leaves of C. myxa originating from Africa, are described in det ail. It has been possible to reveal some morphological elements that a llow leaf identification and the differentiation of the drugs examined .