THE EMBRYOLOGAL STUDY ON NEOLITSEA AURATA VAR.GLAUCA

The embryological features of Neolitsea aurata(Hay.) Koidz. var, glauca Yang have been investigated with the light microscope, The cellular type endosperm was found firstly in nonparasitic plants of Lauraceae. The embryological comparison of the eight genera in Lauraceae has been made.Each anther has four sporangia The anther wall formation conforms with the basic type. Periplasmodial tapetum is formed by binueleate cells. The microspore mother cells divide successively and the tetrad is tetrahedral in shape, rarely isobilateralo Mature pollen grain is two-celled, acalpate and atreme.The archesporium in the ovule is multicellular, but only one embryo-sac is formed Polygonum type in general The synergid shows filiform appara tus, and the antipodals are persistent The fact that the megaspore mother cell and zygote are polarized has been proved by biochemical reaction and the persistent synergid functions as a haustorium.The endosperm is of the cellular type Theembryo development conforms to the Onagrad type and keys out to the Trifolium variation. The seed coat is derived from the outer integument and the inner epidermis shows helical thickening of wallComparative embryology shows the close relationship between Neolitsea and Litsea. Assigning Cassytha to a subfamily of Lauraceae is more suitable than to a separate family. The fact of twin embryo sacs per ovule supports the conclution that Lauraceae probably most closely related to Monimiaceae