Ontogeny of the protophloem fibers and secondary xylem fibers within the stem of Coleus. II. An electron microscope study

Ultrastructural changes within the protophloem fibers and secondary xylem fibers accompany their ontogeny in the Colens stem. The plasmalemma of both fibers portrays a gently undulating pattern against the wall before secondary wall formation. Commonly a narrow, hyaline region separates the primary wall and the plasmalemma. Fibrillar material arising from the plasmalemma is condensed in the wall. With the onset of secondary wall formation, undulation of the plasmalemma increases. Many microtubules traverse the membrane and are modified into extracytoplasmic microtubules. Vesicles produced by the dictyosomes and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) pass through or fuse with the plasmalemma. These processes abate after the initiation of the secondary wall. Cisternal, vesicular, and tubular forms of ER, the latter a rare form in wood fibers, fluctuate in amount during ontogeny. Mitochondria increase in number by fission and change in size and cristae volume. Microbodies are common in the youngest phloem fibers but are absent from the xylem initials. Microbodies arising as swellings of ER cisternae are numerous after secondary wall formation is underway in both fibers. Microfilaments are rare in wood fibers but are common in young phloem fibers. Spherosomes, which originate from ER cisternae, disappear during the initiation of the secondary wall. Phloem fiber plastids increase in number by either constriction or concentralization until shortly after the start of secondary wall formation. The plastids of the xylem fibers differ from those of the phloem fibers since the organelles contain phytoferritin and large starch grains initially, divide only by constriction, and do not form membrane-bound bodies.