XVI International Botanical Congess

The anatomical structure of the leaf epidermis in varieties of Ocimum basilicum L.(Labiateae Juss.)was studied using a light microscope. This species has esophytic and xerophytic features of the leaf epidermis: oval stomata on the both sides of the leaf. Such regularities were observed in adaptation of these plants to steppe conditions: an increase of epidermal cells tortuosity, small cells, thickening of the upper epidermis cell wall. A quantity of stomata per 1 square millimetre of the leaf surface is relatively a constant character in comparison with an index of epidermal cells number and does not depend on geographic o rigin of specimens.The value of the stomata index was 16-26% for the upper epidermis and 23-28 for the lower.The characters of the leaf epidermis structure do not differ in plants from the same geographic region.