Ultrastructural Features of Cortical Parenchyma Cells (‘Motor Cells’) in Stamen Filaments ofBerberis canadensisMill. and Tertiary Pulvini ofMimosa pudicaL.

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Abstract
The comparative study of Berberis stamen filaments and Mimosa tertiary pulvini shows many common features in their cortical parenchyma ultrastructure. In both mature organs, cells have unusual sinuous walls with numerous plasmodesmata, tannins in the vicinity of the nucleus, microfilaments and microfibrils in tannin vacuoles. Nevertheless, in Mimosa pulvini, the abaxial cells have thicker walls than the adaxial cells while in stamen filaments the reverse is true; therefore the dissymmetric organization of the organ walls is the opposite. We will discuss: (1) the problems of chemical fixation of excitable plant cells; (2) relations between the direction of bending and the thickness of cell walls; (3) the location of tannins and (4) the existence of microfilaments and microfibrils.