Apogamy in Funaria hygrometrica Hedw.

Abstract

Sporophytes were observed originating laterally on the axes of gametophytes in some drying, 12-week-old, aseptic cultures of Funaria hygrometrica. When transferred to fresh medium, the gametophytes produced new shoots which bore additional sporophytes. These sporophytes were green, mostly club-shaped, with a prominent apical beak, and lacked the differentiation of archesporial layer. Springer (1935) observed apogamous sporophytes on the leaf tips of diploid gametophytes of Phascum cuspidatum. Bauer (1956, 1959) reported apogamous sporophytes on diploid protonema of Georgia pellucida and on the protonema obtained from reciprocal hybrid sporophytes between Physcomitrium pyriforme and Funaria hygrometrica. Lazarenko (1960, 1965a) described sporophytes on the diploid protonema as well as on the shoots of Desmatodon randii, D. ucrainicus, Amblystegium juratzkanum, A. riparium, and Brachythecium campestre. Lazarenko et al. (1961) reported haploid sporophytes on the stems of D. randii (see also Lal, 1961). Lazarenko (1963) also observed sporophytes on the protonema (regenerated from seta) and stems of Pottia intermedia. The present communication deals with the formation of apogamous sporophytes on the stems of Funaria hygrometrica, a feature not previously reported in this genus. MATERIAL AND METHODS Mature, undehisced capsules were surface-sterilized with dilute chlorine water and washed repeatedly with sterile water. The capsules were then crushed on a sterile slide and the spores sown on semi-solid medium (0.7% agar) containing Knop's mineral salts, Nitsch's trace elements (1 ppm), ferric citrate (10 ppm), and 2% sucrose. The pH of the medium was adjusted to 5.8. Cultures were maintained under controlled conditions of light (10-20 foot-candles), temperature (25?C + 2o), and humidity (55-60% relative humidity). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The spores germinated in three to four days and gametophytes appeared on the protonema in about three weeks. After 12 weeks, when the medium had mostly dried, sporophytes were observed in about 20% cultures. These were borne directly on the axis of the gametophyte (Fig. 1). Clusters of two (Fig. 2) or more sporophytes were also observed. The gametophytes, on transfer to fresh medium, produced new shoots which also bore numerous sporophytes. There was an extensive development of protonema from the gametophytes but sporophytes were not observed on protonemal filaments. The sporophytes were mostly green and club-shaped, with a prominent apical beak. 1 We thank Professor B. M. Johri for facilities and encouragement and Dr. M. Lal and Mrs. Urmilla Gupta for help. 2 Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi 7, India. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.35 on Mon, 29 Aug 2016 06:23:50 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1967] CHOPRA & RASHID: APOGAMY IN FUNARIA 207