Leaf ultrastructures of four Potentilla species under drought stress

In this study, leaf ultrastructures of Potentilla chinensis, P.discolor, P.leucophylla and P.verticillaris under drought stress were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that with the drought stress strengthening, the damage of chloroplast and mitochondria gradually increased, the number and the volume of osmiophilic also gradually increased, and the chloroplast,s area gradually decreases and slightly increase in the number. Through the comparison of chloroplast and mitochondrial damage of four kinds of plants in same drought stress gradient, it was found that the ability of drought stress was in the following order: P.verticillarisP.leucophyllaP.discolorP.chinensis. Therefore, the degrees of plant chloroplasts and mitochondria structural damage are related to drought tolerance, which can be used to evaluate the strength of drought resistance of morphological traits of genus Potentilla.