Abstract
Transmission electron microscopy was used to investigate the development and ultrastructure of the cuticles of the bladder primordium and other parts of Utricularia, the stem of Cuscuta gronovii, and the leaves of Athanasia parviflora. In all materials investigated, except the apical meristem of Cassytha pubescens, the first-formed cuticle, named the procuticle, was very electron dense and apparently amorphous in texture. Later, the procuticle changed its ultrastructural appearance: in all species having a procuticle it lost much of its electron density. Simultaneously, it developed into a lamellar structure in U. lateriflora and Cuscuta, and became part of a lamellar cuticle proper. In U. sandersonii and Athanasia the procuticle generally remained without visible structure. The velum of the pavement epithelium of Utricularia is considered to be a slightly modified procuticle which has become loosened from the epithelial cells and stretched.
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The major part of this investigation was performed before budget reductions forced the University of Copenhagen to abolish The Institute of Plant Anatomy and Cytology primo 1986. The manuscript was finished in the laboratory of Dr. Job Kuijt, University of Victoria, to whom I am most indebted. I am also most grateful to Ruth Bruus Jakobsen, Institute of Plant Ecology, Copenhagen for technical assistance.
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Heide-Jørgensen, H.S. Cuticle development and ultrastructure: evidence for a procuticle of high osmium affinity. Planta 183, 511–519 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00194272
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00194272