Abstract
DURING the course of a comparative study of several members of the Leguminosæ, I found an interesting type of endosperm formation in Cassia tora Linn. (family Cæsalpiniaceæ), a common roadside plant in India. The primary endosperm nucleus, by repeated division, gives rise to a number of free nuclei which are at first more or less uniformly distributed throughout the embryo-sac. Afterwards, one of the nuclei situated near the chalazal end becomes more prominent than the rest of the endosperm. Wall formation takes place only in the micropylar part of the endosperm. The chalazal part, which remains free nuclear, becomes a narrow tube with denser cytoplasm in its elongated lower end (Figs. 1 and 2). As the mass of endosperm tissue increases, the lower tubular process becomes irregularly coiled and twisted. The sac-like portion at its tip is often displaced so that it is sometimes found lying on one side of the cellular zone or superposed on it (Fig. 3). Microtome sections naturally fail to give any clear or complete picture of this interesting tubular process; but whole mounts of the endosperm showed it quite clearly.
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ANANTASWAMY RAU, M. Endosperm in Cassia tora Linn.. Nature 165, 157 (1950). https://doi.org/10.1038/165157a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/165157a0
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