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APOMIXIS AND POLYEMBRYONY IN HIEROCHLOË ODORATA
Author(s) -
Norstog Knut
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1963.tb10651.x
Subject(s) - apomixis , biology , microspore , polyembryony , megaspore , meiosis , endosperm , ploidy , botany , embryo , human fertilization , ovule , pollen , anatomy , genetics , stamen , gene
N orstog , K nut . (Wittenberg U., Springfield, Ohio.) Apomixis and polyembryony in Hierochloe odorata. Amer. Jour. Bot. 50(8): 815–821. Illus. 1963.— Hierochloë odorata from Michigan, having 2 n = 56 chromosomes, was found to reproduce by pseudogamous fertilization of diploid aposporous embryo sacs. Diploid embryos, 2 n = 56, and 5 n = 140 ± endosperm occurred together. Megasporogenesis was incomplete, and aposporous embryo sac initials developed directly into 8‐nucleate Polygonum type embryo sacs. Microsporogenesis was irregular with univalent, bivalent and multivalent chromosomes in meiosis‐I. Dyads and microspores varied between n = 24 and n = 32, and less than 50% of the pollen grains stained with acetocarmine. Two other races of H. odorata are known to occur in North America. They are an apparently infertile type in Canada with 2 n = 28, and a perfectly fertile race from coastal Connecticut also with 2 n = 28. It is suggested that the H. odorata with 2 n = 56 is a derivative of the sterile Canadian race.