The Developmental Anatomy of Adventive Plantlets from Leaves and Leaf Segments of Crassula argentea (Crassulaceae)

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Abstract
Leaves of C. argentea (jade plant) are succulent, ovate and contain hydathodes over their entire adaxial surface. When leaves were removed from the plant, adventive plantlets developed just inside the wounded petiole surface. The plantlets developed as follows: formation of a cicatrix on the wounded surface followed by the proliferation of callus from a subsurface wound meristem; beneath the callus, formation of a meristematic center from phloem parenchyma cells from previously existing vascular bundles; differentiation of the meristematic center into one or more root primordia; development of a 2nd meristematic center from surface and subsurface cells on the basal flank of the emerging root primordia; and differentiation of the root base meristematic center into the plantlet shoot system and its emergence. Segments of leaf smaller than 8 mm2 did not normally produce plantlets unless a hormone complement, including at least auxin and a cytokinin, was provided. The possible role of the leaf vascular tissue and the induction of the polar formation of adventive plantlets are discussed.

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