A Survey of Seed Surface Morphology in Hesperantha (Iridaceae)

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Abstract
Seeds of a range of species of Hesperantha were examined with light and scanning electron microscope (SEM) and compared with 3 spp. of the most closely related genus, Geissorhiza. A turbinate to globose shape with a persistent funicle and a testa of uncontorted epidermal cells with smooth surfaces is apparently the basic seed type. Modifications of the basic type include increasing compression and a triangular or more or less irregular shape, sometimes accompanied by wrinking and crumpling of the epidermal cells, and the development of dual tails and wings. This is most marked within Hesperantha sect. Radiata (but not H. marlothii of the section), where these modifications are accompanied by reduction in seed size. Wing-like structures are also developed within sections Hesperantha (H. spicata and H. cedarmontana) and Concentrica (H. fibrosa) but in both of these groups without accompanying crumpling of the epidermal cells, which coincidentally have developed rough surfaces.

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