Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2015, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (6): 675-682.DOI: 10.11983/CBB14180

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Morphogenesis of Inflorescence and Flower in Ostrya (Betulaceae)

Lifan Zhang1, You Zhou1, Baoqing Ren2, Yu Liang1, Wenwen Wang1, Zhiduan Chen3, Junyi Zhu1*   

  1. 1School of Life Sciences, Tonghua Normal University, Tonghua 134002, China
    2Shanxi Taishan Botanical Garden, Taiyuan 030025, China
    3State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
  • Received:2014-10-13 Accepted:2014-12-28 Online:2015-11-01 Published:2015-09-06
  • Contact: Zhu Junyi
  • About author:

    ? These authors contributed equally to this paper

Abstract: The morphogenesis of inflorescence and flowers of Ostrya was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The female inflorescence of Ostrya japonica is composed of multiple cymules arranged in a spiral configuration. Each cymule primordium differentiates one primary bract and one cluster of cymule primordium meristem. One secondary bract and two flowers were differentiated from each cymule meristem. Each flower primordium differentiated into two or three carpels, forming a bicarpellary or tricarpellary pistil. Each flower has one layer perianth at the base of the pistil. The male inflorescences were catkin-like, composed of multiple cymules arranged in a spiral configuration. Each cymule primordium differentiated into one primary bract and one cluster of cymule primordium meristem. Three flower partitions differentiated from each cymule primordium. The central partition was differentiated into five or six stamens, and each side partition differentiated into three to four stamens. In the process of the stamen differentiating into four anther sacs, the young stamen began a longitudinal fissure, but the filament was not divided into the base.