Antheridial Dehiscence in the Polypodiaceae

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Living gametophytes of various polypod species (grown chiefly on sphagnum) were studied microscopically and microchemically. Extrusion of the intact cap cell was a characteristic method of antheridial dehiscence, as described by Schlumberger. A significant modification of this method frequently observed was the extrusion of cap cell contents as a granular mass. Tilting of the cap cell, sometimes found in place of complete extrusion, is equivalent to it. Athyrium filix-foemina should be added to the list of polypod species in which the cap cell occasionally becomes divided. In such cases one daughter cell regularly acts as the operculum, although both may be extruded. In all cases there is a pore or hole in the outer membrane, but a star-shaped rupture of the apical cell in the sense of the earlier writers does not appear. These variations are illustrated by photomicrographs of unstained living material, as well as by diagram. One of the more significant micro-chemical observations is a lack of cellulose in the cap cell, exclusive of the outer membrane. Tests for pectic materials, sugars, etc., are also described.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: