0000000000146661
AUTHOR
Markus Jerominek
Insights Into the Inside – A Quantitative Histological Study of the Explosively Moving Style in Marantaceae
This study aims to identify the histological basis for the extraordinary, fast movement of the style in Marantaceae. Although this explosive pollination mechanism was subject of many studies, quantitative measurements to document volumetric changes have never been conducted. Based on physical parameters and limitations (poroelastic time), the movement itself is by far too fast to be explained by turgor changes solely. Therefore, we address the hypothesis that the style contains elastic structures to store energy allowing the fast movement. We provide an experimental approach in Goeppertia bachemiana to identify histological differences of styles in various states, i.e., steady, unreleased, …
Live imaging of developmental processes in a living meristem of Davidia involucrata (Nyssaceae)
Morphogenesis in plants is usually reconstructed by scanning electron microscopy and histology of meristematic structures. These techniques are destructive and require many samples to obtain a consecutive series of states. Unfortunately, using this methodology the absolute timing of growth and complete relative initiation of organs remain obscure. To overcome this limitation, an in vivo observational method based on Epi-Illumination Light Microscopy (ELM) was developed and tested with a male inflorescence meristem (floral unit) of the handkerchief tree Davidia involucrata Baill. (Nyssaceae). We asked whether the most basal flowers of this floral unit arise in a basipetal sequence or, altern…