This work has been developed with the purpose of helping the quality control of the medicinal species Bauhinia forficata Link and B. variegata Linn., which were collected in gardens and vacant lots in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. The samples of leaf blade, petiole and pulvinus were fixed in FAA 50 and preserved in alcohol 70. The sectioning of the material was made in rotational microtome (with the material included in historesine) or manually and the blades were mounted in permanent or semipermanent way. Analyses in photonic and scanning electronic micros betscopy were performed. The leaf of B. forficata is elongated, with the leaflets united around the middle of the leaf blade, acute apices, smooth adaxial surface and mucroween the leaflets. The B. variegata, on the other hand, possesses a broader than long leaf, with the leaflets united in the terminal portion of the blade and obtuse apices. In the pulvinus of B. variegata there are collenchyma layers, which are absent in B. forficata. The shape and the petiole fibers sheath, in cross section, are distinct in both species, as well as the distribution of the stomata and trichomes in the leaf blade and the shape of the border in transversal section. B. variegata possesses a higher quantity of idioblasts with druses and phenolic compounds. The morphologic and anatomic characteristics of B. forficata an B. variegata contribute to the identification and distinction of the species and they are important for the control of the material destined to research and to the pharmaceutical industry.
Bauhinia; medicinal plants; pata-de-vaca
