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Abstract
Background Gastrodia elata, a famous herbal medicine, has been received great attention on its treatments of headache, vertigo and epilepsy. Gastrodia nantoensis is a newly described species from central Taiwan with potential medicinal value. Gastrodia species are fully mycoheterotrophic orchids, and the courses of their seed development are more rapid as compared to the chlorophyllous orchids. A better understanding of their reproductive biology would provide insights into the propagation and conservation of the mycoheterotrophic orchid species.ResultsBased on the histological and histochemical investigations, we observed some notable features in ovule and embryo development. First, only the archesporial cell and/or megasporocyte are present within their ovaries at the time of anthesis. Second, their suspensors consist of a single cell and their mature embryos consist of a gradient of small to large cells. Nile red staining of a globular embryo reveals the presence of cuticular material in the surface wall of embryo proper and the lateral walls of suspensor cell, indicating that the basal wall of suspensor cell is the major route for nutrient supply from maternal tissues to embryo proper. Third, their seed coats are derived from a single integument, and lignin but not cuticular material is present in the outer most layer of seed coat and persists through seed maturation.ConclusionsThe faster seed development of Gastrodia species is due to the speedy courses of ovule and embryo development. In the mature seeds, the presence of a differentiated apical zone in embryo proper suggests the easy-to-germinate character. This study provides basic knowledge for further molecular studies on embryo development and symbiotic germination of Gastrodia species.
Highlights
Gastrodia elata, a famous herbal medicine, has been received great attention on its treatments of headache, vertigo and epilepsy
The structure of G. elata embryology has been documented in previous studies by the line drawing or paraffin sections (Kusano 1915; Abe 1976; Liang 1981, 1984), information concerning the development of ovule and embryo of G. nantoensis is lacking
Plant materials Plants of G. elata were cultivated in the greenhouse at Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China, while plants in a natural population of G. nantoensis in the bamboo forest located at Nantou County, Taiwan were selected for this study
Summary
A famous herbal medicine, has been received great attention on its treatments of headache, vertigo and epilepsy. Gastrodia nantoensis is a newly described species from central Taiwan with potential medicinal value. Gastrodia species are fully mycoheterotrophic orchids, and the courses of their seed development are more rapid as compared to the chlorophyllous orchids. A better understanding of their reproductive biology would provide insights into the propagation and conservation of the mycoheterotrophic orchid species. A representative Gastrodia species, is an important traditional Chinese medicine (known as Tian Ma) for treatment of headache, vertigo and epilepsy (Xu and Guo 2000). The structure of G. elata embryology has been documented in previous studies by the line drawing or paraffin sections (Kusano 1915; Abe 1976; Liang 1981, 1984), information concerning the development of ovule and embryo of G. nantoensis is lacking. Basic knowledge of seed development will assist in the improvement of artificial propagation, as demonstrated in our previous studies of Cypripedium formosanum (Lee et al 2005) and Cypripedium macranthos (Zhang et al 2013)
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