Effects of drought stress on anatomical structure of leavesand physiological indexes of Potentilla species

Potentilla chinensis and P.discolor were taken as experimental materials to study their anatomical structures and physiological indexes under drought stress. The results showed that with the drought stress strengthened, the thickness of palisade tissue and spongy parenchyma changed obvious, P.discolor was greater than P.chinensis on the ratio of palisade tissue and spongy parenchyma, the chlorophyll content decreased gradually, the SOD activity increased first and then showed a downward trend, the MDA and PRO content gradually increased. Through the comparison of two kinds of plants on the changes in amplitude of indicators, it could be concluded that the ability of drought stress of P.discolor was stronger than P.chinensis. The anatomical structure of leaves and the change of physiological indexes change under drought stress could be used to evaluate the sensitivity of drought stress of plants of genus Potentilla.