Pollen Wall Development of Xiphidium coeruleum (Haemodoraceae) and its Systematic Implications

The development of the pollen grain wall in Xiphidium coeruleum(Haemodoraceae) was studied using TEM and cytochemical stainingtechniques. Microsporocyte ontogeny initiates with the degradationof the cellulosic cell wall and subsequent deposition of a thickcallosic cell wall. Following callose deposition, successivemeiosis occurs, resulting in a tetragonal tetrad of microspores.during meiosis, the cell walls of the tapetum break down, releasingthe syncytial periplasmodium. Irregular non-sporopollenous globularbodies are deposited in this peripheral periplasmodium, whichis rich in ER, golgi bodies, vesicles, and characteristic starchplastids. Within the microspore cytoplasm, vesicles, golgi bodies,and plastids are plentiful during the early tetrad stage. Atthis time the plasma membrane of the microspore develops characteristicevaginations. An extracellular membrane, the ‘white line’,is secreted outside the microspore plasma membrane, followedby callose wall degradation. Bead-like deposits of exine orprimexine are deposited at points along the ‘white line’simultaneously on inner and outer surfaces and opposite theoriginal plasma membrane evaginations. The bead-like exine depositscontinue to grow during the release of the microspores and developinto laterally appressed, rod-shaped ektexinous elements havinga tangentially oriented commissure, the vestige of the original‘white line’. The mature intine is two-layered,the outer exintine containing radially oriented vesicular structures,which are apparently derived from plasma membrane extensions.Exine development in Xiphidium is similar to ‘nexine 1’development in Lilium and may have evolved from an ancestraltectate-columellate condition by the loss of the sexine. Walldevelopment in members of the Zingiberales is strikingly similarto that reported here for the Haemodoraceae—evidence ofa possible relationship between the two taxa. Xiphidium coeruleum, Haemodoraceae, pollen, tapetum, development, exine