Development of the flower and inflorescence of Arum italicum (Araceae)

2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 622-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Barabé ◽  
Christian Lacroix ◽  
Marc Gibernau

The spadix of Arum italicum Miller consists of two main parts: a clavate sterile portion (appendix) and a cylindroid fertile portion. In the fertile portion with both male and female zones, there are two zones of sterile flowers (bristles). The basal portion of bristles is surrounded by a verrucose structure consisting of a mass of tissular excrescences. During early stages of development, there is no free space between the different zones of the inflorescence. The elongation of the inflorescence axis is what eventually separates the different zones from each other. There are no atypical flowers that are morphologically intermediate between male and female flowers as is the case in other genera of Aroideae (e.g., Cercestis, Philodendron, Schismatoglottis). The structure of the bristles in the inflorescences of Arum does not correspond to any type of atypical flower (unisexual or bisexual) that has been analysed previously in the Araceae. From a developmental point of view, it is not possible to determine if the bristles correspond to aborted or modified female or male flowers. In the early stages of development, the stamens, staminodes, and appendix are covered by globular masses of extracellular calcium oxalate crystals.Key words: development, unisexual flowers, gradient, calcium oxalate crystals.


2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Barabé ◽  
Christian Lacroix ◽  
Marc Gibernau

The floral morphology of Ambrosina and Arisarum is analysed from a developmental and phylogenetic point of view. In Arisarum, there are atypical organs displaying male and female characteristics. This developmental study shows that the male flowers of Ambrosina are di- or tri-androus. A close phylogenetic relationship between Ambrosina and Arisarum is supported by their morphology. Both genera have the same type of pollen (ellipsoid, inaperturate, striate–reticulate) and the mode of dehiscence (by a longitudinal slit) of the thecae. In Arisarum, the pollen is mixed with extracellular prismatic crystals of calcium oxalate.Key words: atypical flowers, calcium oxalate crystals, flower development, phylogeny.



Botany ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Barabé ◽  
Christian Lacroix

The early stages of development of the inflorescence of Anthurium jenmanii Engl. were examined using scanning electron microscopy. The inflorescence of A. jenmanii consists of more than 100 flowers arranged in recognizable spirals. Each flower has four broad tepals enclosing four stamens that are not visible prior to anthesis. The gynoecium consists of two carpels. The floral primordia are first initiated on the lower portion of the inflorescence, they then increase in size and appear as transversely extended bulges. The two lateral tepals are the first organs to be initiated, followed shortly thereafter by the two median tepals. The two lateral stamens are initiated first, directly opposite the lateral tepals, and are followed by two median stamens initiated directly opposite the median tepals. A two-lobed stigma is clearly visible during the early stages of development of the gynoecium. On some of the young inflorescences, all floral parts were covered by extracellular calcium oxalate crystals. The release of these prismatic crystals occurs before the stamens and petals have reached maturity. The mode of floral development observed in Anthurium has similarities with that reported for Gymnostachys . However, contrary to Gymnostachys, the development of the flower of A. jenmanii is not unidirectional.



1954 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Berkeley ◽  
C. Berkeley

Dodecaceria fewkesi (Fewkes) is a new name for the cirratulid polychaete formerly known as D. pacifica. It builds colonies of calcareous tubes on rock faces in suitable localities on the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island between tide-marks. A sexual reproduction by autotomy followed by regeneration is common and colonies seem to result from a single individual by a repeated operation of this process. Individuals in a given colony are invariably of one sex. Fertile eggs could not be obtained either by mixing ripe oocytes and sperms or by adding sperms to water containing female colonies. They did result from keeping male and female colonies together, provided the colonies had been recently removed from their natural habitat. The early stages of development are described and figured.



2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (8) ◽  
pp. 899-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Barabé ◽  
Christian Lacroix

In the spadix of Caladium, there is a clearly recognizable intermediate zone consisting of sterile male flowers. The transition between the female zone and the male sterile zone is more or less abrupt. During the early stages of development of the inflorescence, a few atypical bisexual flowers between the female zone and the male sterile zone are recognizable. These atypical flowers display a variety of forms. However, in all cases, the staminate portion of the flower is located near the male zone and the gynoecial portion near the female zone. The undeveloped synandroidral portion and the rudimentary gynoecium belong to the same meristematic unit and can be viewed as a single whorl. The early stages of development of atypical bisexual flowers in Caladium and Philodendron are relatively similar and therefore represent an intermediate form between female and male sterile flowers.Key words: inflorescence, homeosis, gradient, flower.



2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 053-063
Author(s):  
Anna V. Pirog ◽  
◽  
Olga V. Lozhnichenko ◽  


1958 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 833-838 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Wood

The non-protein nitrogenous constituents of muscle of migrating sockeye salmon were investigated. These constituents were found to be the same in both male and female fish and were present in approximately the same amounts in both sexes. The histidine content of the muscle in all fish decreased to one fifth of the original value during the early stages of the migratory journey and remained at the low level thereafter. Some of the other constituents changed to a smaller extent, usually increasing in the later stages of the migration. This was especially noticeable in female fish. However, the increase in the concentration of these constituents in the muscle was due to a decrease in the amount of muscle in the fish rather than to an increase in the amounts of the compounds themselves.



Author(s):  
Beata Zagórska-Marek ◽  
Magdalena Turzańska ◽  
Klaudia Chmiel

AbstractPhyllotactic diversity and developmental transitions between phyllotactic patterns are not fully understood. The plants studied so far, such as Magnolia, Torreya or Abies, are not suitable for experimental work, and the most popular model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, does not show sufficient phyllotactic variability. It has been found that in common verbena (Verbena officinalis L.), a perennial, cosmopolitan plant, phyllotaxis differs not only between growth phases in primary transitions but also along the indeterminate inflorescence axis in a series of multiple secondary transitions. The latter are no longer associated with the change in lateral organ identity, and the sequence of phyllotactic patterns is puzzling from a theoretical point of view. Data from the experiments in silico, confronted with empirical observations, suggest that secondary transitions might be triggered by the cumulative effect of fluctuations in the continuously decreasing bract primordia size. The most important finding is that the changes in the primary vascular system, associated with phyllotactic transitions, precede those taking place at the apical meristem. This raises the question of the role of the vascular system in determining primordia initiation sites, and possibly challenges the autonomy of the apex. The results of this study highlight the complex relationships between various systems that have to coordinate their growth and differentiation in the developing plant shoot. Common verbena emerges from this research as a plant that may become a new model suitable for further studies on the causes of phyllotactic transitions.



Botany ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (7) ◽  
pp. 421-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.D. Shafiullah ◽  
Christian R. Lacroix

Myriophyllum aquaticum (Vell.) Verdc. produces two morphologically different forms of leaves based on whether they are aerial or aquatic. The objective of this study was to determine whether there are any similarities or differences between these two growth forms during their early stages of development. A comparative developmental study of aerial and aquatic growth forms of M. aquaticum was conducted from a qualitative and quantitative perspective using a scanning electron microscope. The pattern of leaf and lobe initiation such as their origin and shape were similar in both growth forms until the fourth plastochron (stage P4). Differences between the two growth forms became evident from stage P5 onward, where a larger shoot apical meristem (SAM), elongated epidermal cells, shorter and slightly more numerous lobes, as well as the presence of appendage-like structures characterized aquatic growth forms. On the other hand, aerial growth forms had smaller SAM, bulb-like epidermal cells, and longer and slightly less numerous leaf lobes. Significant differences between growth forms were noted for parameters such as volume of SAM, length of terminal, first, and middle lobes, as well as the length from first to last lobes. The volume of the SAM of aquatic shoot tips was always greater than aerial forms. On the other hand, lobes of aerial forms were always longer than the aquatic counterpart during early stages of development. This study on the development of M. aquaticum shows that the aerial and aquatic growth forms diverge from their early stages of development.



1878 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 505-521 ◽  

The following paper contains an account of observations on the development of the species Cymothoa œstroides and C . parallela of Milne Edwards; but the forms of the young seem to show that several species are really included under these two names. In the early stages of development the only observable difference that exists between the embryos is one of size, but in the later stages they differ very markedly from each other in their external characters. From adult individuals answering the description of C . œstroides I have obtained four varieties of embryos: two with long antennae and two with short.* In the two former the first pair of antennae are but slightly longer than the head, while the second pair are longer than the body; the eyes are small. In one of the varieties thus characterised the abdominal appendages are fringed with long hairs (fig. 20), and in the other they are smooth.



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