Fine structure study of pollen development in Haemanthus katherinae baker: I. formation of vegetative and generative cells

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Abstract
When microspores of the African blood lily divide, they form pollen grains which consist of 2 cells of unequal size. This is accomplished when the microspore nucleus is displaced from the centre of the grain prior to division. The displacement is always towards the side of the grain opposite the furrow, and large vacuoles form in the cytoplasm between the furrow and the nucleus. During cell division the cell plate curves around one daughter nucleus and fuses with the pollen wall to enclose the generative cell. The cell-plate attachment always occurs with the wall that is opposite the furrow of the grain. Most of the microspore’s organelles become incorporated in the larger vegetative cell, whereas the generative cell has few, if any, plastids and only a small number of other organelles. The wall around the generative cell is composed of finely fibrillar material enclosed within 2 unit membranes. The generative cell eventually becomes detached from the pollen wall, becomes spheroidal, and moves to a position near the centre of the pollen grain. At the same time, the large vacuoles disappear from the vegetative cell and the number of organelles increases substantially.