Pollination sub-systems distinguished by pollen tube arrest after incompatible interspecific crosses in Rhododendron (Ericaceae)

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Abstract
The cytology of compatible and interspecific incompatible pollinations has been followed in selected species of the genus Rhododendron (Ericaceae). Pollinated pistils were fixed, cleared, stained in decolourized aniline blue, and observed by epifluorescence microscopy. Ten different abnormalities of arrested pollen tube tips have been detected, including burst, tapered, swollen, coiled, spiralling, spiky and variable diameter syndromes. A series of five errors of callose deposition in incompatible tubes has also been defined. Six different regions in the pistil for expression of pollen tube arrest have been found, including the stigmatic exudate, the mucilage of the upper and lower style canal, the ovary loculus, the micropyle. There may also be abnormal behaviour after entry into the embryo sac. Both the site of pollen tube arrest within the pistil, and the error syndrome of tip growth and callose deposition anomalies, are characteristic of each interspecific cross. These results are discussed in relation to the genetic control of reproduction.