EMBRYOLOGICAL STUDIES IN CANADIAN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE TRIBE RHINANTHEAE, SCROPHULARIACEAE

Abstract

Descriptions are given of the ovary and ovules, megasporogenesis, embryo sac, endosperm, embryo, and seed coat structure of Euphrasia arctica Lange, Orthocarpus luteus Nutt., and Melampyrum lineare Desr. Although the ovary is usually bicarpellary, syncarpous, and bilocular with axile placentation in the tribe, a tendency toward unilocularity and parietal placentation occurs in Orthocarpus luteus. The number of ovules is reduced to four in Melampyrum lineare. Development of the embryo sac is of the monosporic eight-nucleate type in Euphrasia arctica and Orthocarpus luteus, but is tetrasporic and seven-nucleate in Melampyrum lineare. No fusion of polar nuclei occurs in the latter. The endosperm is ab initio cellular. Nuclear division in the primary micropylar chamber is followed by a vertical wall which remains incomplete. Aggressive haustoria develop at opposite ends of the endosperm. The chalazal haustorium is unicellular and binucleate. The micropylar haustorium is incompletely bicelled, with four nuclei in E. arctica and M. lineare and two nuclei in O. luteus. In M. lineare six to eight tube-like processes develop from the micropylar haustorium of which one usually enlarges and enters the funicle. The endosperm proper is generally uniform in E. arctica and O. luteus, but in M. lineare it becomes differentiated into three regions, the massive micropylar part consisting of cells with thickened, prominently pitted walls and the chalazal part of thin-walled cells with large intercellular spaces. Embryo development in E. arctica and O. luteus resembles that of Capsella bursa-pastoris, while development in M. lineare follows that of Polygonum persicaria. Embryologically Melampyrum lineare differs markedly from other members of the tribe.