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POLYACETYLENE RESERVOIR (DUCT) DEVELOPMENT IN AMBROSIA TRIFIDA (ASTERACEAE) STAMINATE FLOWERS
Author(s) -
Lersten Nels R.,
Curtis John D.
Publication year - 1989
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.1537-2197.1989.tb15080.x
Subject(s) - asteraceae , biology , petal , stamen , botany , heliantheae , anatomy , pollen
Mature staminate flowers of giant ragweed ( Ambrosia trifida L.; Asteraceae, tribe Heliantheae) are about 2 mm long. Each of the five fused petals is traversed for most of its length by a prominent polyacetylene‐filled reservoir (PAR). PAR'S have a biseriate epithelium and, except for their short length of about 1.5 mm, seem identical to the much longer PAR's of leaf and stem. Study of sections of resin‐embedded flowers at different developmental stages showed that corolla PAR's appear with a full complement of epithelial cells, and occupy their full relative length, in flowers only 150 μ m in length. As the flower enlarges, the original epithelial cells also enlarge and elongate, and secrete into the lumen, which opens simultaneously for its entire length when the flower is nearly 300 μ m long. PAR's in mature flowers have only their original epithelial cells, which remain alive. Corolla PAR's seem anatomically to be representative of the canals and ducts that have been described elsewhere in Asteraceae.