The development of the ovule and megagametophyte in Rhexia mariana

Abstract

The ovules of Rhexia mariana are bitegmic and anatropous or rarely atropous. Periclinal divisions in the nucellar epidermis at the micropylar end produces a nucellar cap. A terminal pore in the nucellus is formed by the suppression of anticlinal divisions in the epidermis and subsequent separation of the cells during nucellar enlargement. A single hypodermal archesporium divides, producing a primary parietal cell and primary sporogenous cell. The primary parietal cell establishes a prominent parietal tissue as the primary sporogenous cell differentiates into the megasporocyte. Two prominent nucleoli that consistently appear in the archesporium persist in the primary sporogenous cell and the megasporocyte. Meiosis produces a tetrad of megaspores in either linear or approximately T-shaped arrangement. Cells of the nucellus adjacent to the sporogenous cell, megasporocyte, and tetrad rarely give rise to megagametophytes aposporically. The chalazal megaspore functions in megagametogenesis. Shortly after the first nuclear division, vacuoles migrate and coalesce between the nuclei. Two more nuclear divisions establish the four- and eight-nucleate megagametophytes. The chalazal nuclei are situated laterally and are noticeably smaller than the micropylar nuclei in both four- and eight-nucleate stages. The two polar nuclei remain in close contact, usually near the egg apparatus, but sometimes near the center of the megagametophyte. The three antipodal nuclei are ephemeral with degeneration completed by the time the egg apparatus is established. Orientation of the egg apparatus places the synergids on the side of the megagametophyte adjacent to the funiculus and the egg cell on the opposite side. The similarities and differences in ovule and megagametophyte development between Rhexia mariana and the tropical representatives of Melastomataceae previously investigated are discussed.