Floral development of Aponogeton natans and A. undulatus

Abstract

The primordia of the floral appendages are initiated in an acropetal succession. Members of the same whorl appear nearly simultaneously. The gynoecial whorl and the two staminal whorls are trimerous, whereas the perianth consists only of two anteriolateral tepals. However, the posterior (adaxial) tepal may be present as an extremely reduced buttress whose growth becomes arrested immediately after its inception. If this somewhat questionable tepal rudiment is included we have a perfectly trimerous and tetracyclic flower with alternation of successive whorls. Subtending bracts of the flowers are completely missing in all developmental stages. While the tepal primordia are dorsiventral from their inception, the stamen and pistil (carpel) primordia originate as hemispherical mounds which become dorsiventral in subsequent stages of development. Each pistil (carpel) primordium becomes horseshoe shaped. As the margins grow up and contact they fuse postgenitally. No cross zone is formed. Placentation is submarginal. In A. natans eight ovules are formed and in A. undulatus only two arise; all ovules are bitegmic. The floral apices have a two-layered tunica up to the stage of pistil formation. The inception of all floral appendages (including the ovules) occurs by periclinal cell division in the second tunica layer. The third layer (corpus) may contribute to the formation of the stamens and pistils. Each appendage primordium receives only one procambial strand which begins to differentiate after the inception of the primordium. The questionable rudimentary tepal buttress lacks a procambial strand. Apparently it does not reach the developmental stage at which procambial induction occurs. From the point of view of floral development, the two species of Aponogeton differ drastically from members of the Alismatales studied so far. Among the Helobiae, the Aponogetonaceae appear to be most closely related to the Scheuchzeriaceae and the Juncaginaceae (Triglochinaceae).