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The mechanism of stamen movement in Chimonanthus praecox (Calycanthaceae): differential cell growth rates on the adaxial and abaxial surfaces of filaments after flower opening

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Abstract

In flowers of Chimonanthus (Calycanthaceae), stamen movements have been known for 150 years. Stamens are initially recurved when flowers open. Subsequently, within approximately 48 h, the stamens gradually turn upright and eventually enclose the gynoecium. However, the exact mechanism involved in this process is still unresolved. In this study, we found that in recurved stamens at the female stage the cell lengths in the epidermal and hypodermal tissue of the abaxial surfaces were significantly smaller than those of the adaxial surfaces. In erect stamens, however, no significant difference in cell length between the hypodermal tissues of both surfaces was found. Although the difference in cell length between the epidermal tissues for erect stamens was significant, it was smaller than that in recurved filaments. We found no variations in cell number between the epidermal tissues or between the hypodermal tissues among recurved and erect stamens. Thus, we conclude that in Chimonanthus the differential cell growth rates between the adaxial and abaxial surfaces of filaments could account for the gradual inward stamen movement following flower opening rather than cell division. Furthermore, application of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and gibberellic acid (GA3) to intact flowers in vitro or the wounding of stigmas significantly promoted the stamen erection rate. Surprisingly, we did not observe any effect on this movement following hand-pollination. Different patterns of stamen movement in Calycanthaceae and their implications for reproductive biology are also discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Professor Peter K. Endress (University of Zurich, Switzerland) and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable and inspiring comments on the manuscript. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 30970194).

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  1. College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Wei Du, Ke-Zhou Qin & Xiao-Fan Wang

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  1. Wei Du
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  2. Ke-Zhou Qin
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Correspondence to Xiao-Fan Wang.

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Du, W., Qin, KZ. & Wang, XF. The mechanism of stamen movement in Chimonanthus praecox (Calycanthaceae): differential cell growth rates on the adaxial and abaxial surfaces of filaments after flower opening. Plant Syst Evol 298, 561–567 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-011-0566-4

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