ULTRASTRUCTURE OF THE TRANSFER TISSUES DURING VIVIPAROUS SEEDLING DEVELOPMENT IN RHIZOPHORA MANGLE (RHIZOPHORACEAE)

All water and nutrients required for the growth of the huge viviparous seedlings of Rhizophora mangle must be transported from the inner surface of the integument (maternal tissue), across a layer of persistent endosperm cells (seedling tissue), and to the surface of the cylindrical cotyledonary body. We describe the ultrastructure of these tissues at two functionally different stages of embryo and seedling development (i.e., 2–3 wk and 2–3 mo postgermination, respectively). Integumentary cells adjacent to the endosperm have unique plastids and divide more frequently than cells further away from the endosperm/integument interface. Later, fibrillar inclusions develop in vacuoles of the integument cells. The outermost layer of endosperm cells differentiates into transfer cells with wall ingrowths on the external walls, and the remainder of the endosperm degenerates during the embryo to seedling transition. The wall ingrowths gradually occlude the lumena of the transfer cells, a process which is complete long before the seedling abscises; therefore, the seedling may be photosynthetically independent throughout most of its development. The outer surface of the seedling cotyledonary body is minimally papillate and exhibits several ultrastructural specializations: centripetal degeneration of external walls which are bounded by electron-dense deposits; numerous mitochondria; and plastids of unusual structure with many plastoglobuli, and which contain unique yellow pigments having absorption spectra characteristic of carotenoids. HPLC residence times of these pigments are unlike those of β-carotene or other common carotenoids. Transfer tissues of Rhizophora may have functions not found in other plants, such as salt exclusion and facilitating viviparous germination, but the ultrastuctural correlates of these functions remain uncertain.