The foliar micro-morphology of Solanum aculeastrum, a medicinal plant of South Africa

Solanum aculeastrum is an important medicinal plant which is used for the treatment of several diseases including cancer in South Africa. The structure and distribution of foliar appendages on the leaves of this plant were examined by scanning electron microscope. Both glandular and non-glandular trichomes were observed, which differed from each other in morphology and location on the leaf. While short-stalked (SST) glandular trichomes were abundant on the adaxial leaf surface, single, multicellular and pointed stellate trichomes (ST) having 13-15 arms, were abundant on the abaxial surface of the leaf, together with long-stalked glandular trichomes (LST). We hypothesize that the bioactive therapeutic compounds secreted by S. aculeastrum are produced in these glandular trichomes.