Experimental and Analytical Studies of Pteridophytes
- 1 July 1955
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Annals of Botany
- Vol. 19 (3) , 389-399
- https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a083436
Abstract
An account is given of surgical treatments which may determine the symmetry and orientation of leaf primordia in ferns. In one series small deep tangential incisions, severing the incipient vascular tissue, were made immediately above very young leaf primordia or primordium sites: the primordia developed as leaves in all cases. In the other series two deep and wide tangential incisions were made above a primordium (or site) so as to leave a ‘bridge’ of intact tissue between it and the apical cell of the shoot. In some of the more actively growing apices buds were formed, even though the shoot apical cell was quite undamaged; relatively inactive apices typically yielded leaves. It is concluded that the orientation and symmetry of a leaf primordium cannot be referred only to the direct action on it of a growth-regulating substance moving basipetally from the apical cell, but rather that these characteristic developments are mediated through the organization and physiological activity of the apex as a whole, the intact apical cell being a central and essential element of the system.Keywords
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