Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (5)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by LIGRONE, R.
Right arrow Articles by GAMBARDELLA, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by LIGRONE, R.
Right arrow Articles by GAMBARDELLA, R.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by LIGRONE, R.
Right arrow Articles by GAMBARDELLA, R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Annals of Botany 78: 305-315, 1996
© 1996 Annals of Botany Company

Serial Development of Foliar Gemmae in Tortula (Pottiales, Musci), an Ultrastructural Study

ROBERTO LIGRONE+, JEFFREY G. DUCKETT and RAFFAELE GAMBARDELLA

Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale, Università di Napoli, Via Foria 223, I-80139, Napoli, Italy Facoltà di Scienze Ambientali del Secondo Ateneo Napoletano, via Arena 22, 81100, Caserta, Italy School of Biological Sciences, Queen Mary & Westfield College, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK

October 19, 1995 ; March 6, 1996

The development and liberation mechanism of foliar gemmae have been studied by electron microscopy in two mosses, Tortula latifolia Bruch and Tortula papillosa Wils. The gemmae develop on the adaxial surface of mature leaves from single initial cells on both the lamina and costa in T. latifolia but only on the costa in T. papillosa . Elongation of the initial cell is associated with the deposition of a highly extensible new wall whilst the old wall and cuticle in the apical dome rupture. The first division is transverse and separates a short basal cell embedded in the foliar tissue and a distal cell, or gemma primordium, protruding from the leaf surface. Subsequent divisions of the gemma primordium give rise to a six-to-eight-celled globose gemma with mucilaginous outer walls. During gemma development the basal cell produces a new wall and elongates again whilst the common wall with the gemma splits apart centripetally along the boundary between the old and new wall in the basal cell; plasmodesmal connections are gradually severed and eventually the young gemma remains connected to the basal cell only by mucilage. After separation of the first-formed gemma, the basal cell may expand and produce a second gemma by the same mechanism. The whole process may be repeated several times resulting in the formation of a chain of gemmae stuck together by mucilage and which are liberated only when the leaves are fully hydrated. Accumulation of abundant lipid deposits in the gemmae after symplasmic isolation reflects considerable photosynthetic autonomy.

Abscission; bryophytes; cell wall formation; plasmodesmata; vegetative reproduction


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.