Abstract

• Boesenbergia rotunda (L.) Mansf. is locally known as Seik-Phoo belongs to the family Zingiberaceae. These specimens were collected from Shwe-Thin-Phyu Village, Ye-Zin, Mandalay Region, in 2018. These plants have been used as a remedy in traditional medicine and also as vegetables and spices in the preparation of appetizing meal by local people in these collected areas. This study was conducted to identify the morphological and histological characters of Boesenbergia rotunda (L.) Mansf. In morphological studies, it is an aromatic perennial herb which has bright yellow rhizomes and finger-like tuberous roots; leaves alternate, biseriate; inflorescences spike, terminal on a leafy shoot; flowers pinkish purple, bisexual, irregular, epigynous. In histological studies, tetracytic stomata are present on both surfaces of lamina, midribs, petioles and leaf sheaths. The three types of vascular bundles such as main arc, abaxial arc and adaxial arc are also found in midribs, petioles and leaf sheaths. Prismatic calcium oxalate crystals and oil cells are found in lamina, midribs, petioles and leaf sheaths. Starch grains and oil cells are abundantly found in tuberous roots and rhizomes. In diagnostic characters, oil cells, fibers, fiber-tracheids and fragments of vessels (pitted, spiral thickening, reticulate thickening and scalariform thickening) are found in both powdered of aerial shoots and subterranean organs. Moreover, fragments of epidermal cells with stomata and calcium oxalate crystals (prism) are also found in aerial shoot while starch grains in subterranean organs.