A scanning electron microscope study of the pollen tube pathway in pistils of Rhododendron

Abstract

The pollen tube pathway was observed at regular intervals in pistils of four species of Rhododendron, with emphasis on Rhododendron fortunei. Rhododendron is characterized by a nonpapillate wet stigma, angled stylar canal, placentae with central clefts, and many unitegmic anatropous ovules. Receptive stigmas were hand-pollinated with self pollen 1 – 8 days after anthesis. The pollen, which occurs in permanent tetrads, started germinating during the 1st day. After crossing the stigma surface to one of the grooves leading into the stylar canal, pollen tubes grew straight through the style, and continued into the placental clefts from which they emerged onto the placental surface to grow among the ovules. Tubes reached the ovary in 5 – 10 days depending on the species and took several days after entering the upper ovary to reach the base of the placentae. Single tubes (rarely two or more) diverged from the interovular network and grew under the integument (which is close against the placental surface) to enter the slit-like micropylar opening of an ovule. The morphology of the micropylar slit and the direction of pollen tube entry showed variation among ovules. In R. fortunei ovule entries occurred first on the upper half of the placenta, though not at the top, and in ovules closest to the placental cleft. All portions of the pathway, from stigma surface to micropylar opening, are covered by exudate. Stigmatic exudate increased in amount and became more viscous after pollination, burying the pollen grains and tubes, then gradually dried. Exudate was produced in the style and ovary whether or not pollination occurred. Characteristics of the pollen tube pathway in Rhododendron are discussed relative to those in other angiosperm taxa. Key words: Rhododendron, pollen–pistil interactions, fertilization, transmitting tissues, pistil exudates, ovule entries.