Chaffey, N (1985) 'Structure and function in the grass ligule: optical and electron microscopy of the membranous ligule of Lolium temulentum L.' Annals of Botany, 55 (1). pp. 65-75.
Abstract
Aspects of the structure and ultrastructure of the membranous ligule of mature leaves of Lolium temulentum L. are described. In transverse section the ligule was lens-shaped and wedge-shaped in longitudinal section, 6 or 7 cells wide near the base and 1 or 2 cells wide at the edges. Two uniseriate epidermes enclosed a chlorenchymatous mesophyll tissue of varying thicknesses; both epidermes were continuous with the leaf adaxial epidermis. The cells comprising these three issues all appeared like typical grass epidermal long cells; elongate papillate cells were present at the edges. No stomata, trichomes, intercellular spaces or vascular tissue were found in the ligule. A marked polarization of ultrastructural complexity existed from the large-vacuolate abaxial epidermis to the ‘densely cytoplasmic’ small-vacuolate adaxial epidermis. Cells of the latter tissue contained numerous mitochondria, hypersecretory dictyosomes and abundant strands of rough endoplasmic reticulum. Fluorescence microscopy provided evidence for the accumulation of a polysaccharide-containing material within the periplasmic space next to the outer tangential wall of adaxial epidermal cells. The ligule is considered to be a highly organized and differentiated leaf organ with a pholosynthetic mesophyll and an adaxial epidermis active in the synthesis of protein and polysaccharide.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology Q Science > QK Botany |
| Divisions: | School of Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Jul 2015 12:35 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Aug 2021 09:40 |
| ISSN: | 0305-7364 |
| URI / Page ID: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/6370 |
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