Somatic Embryogenesis in Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum L.)

  • P. Profumo
  • P. Gastaldo
Chapter
Part of the Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry book series (AGRICULTURE, volume 30)

Abstract

Aesculus hippocastanum L. (Horse chestnut, Hippocastanaceae) is an extremely variable species with a number of varieties differing in growth habit, leaf shape, and flower features. It is a tree up to 25–30 m high with opposing, long-stalked leaves, composed of five to nine palmate leaflets. The varicolored flowers are borne in showy, upright, terminal, branched clusters. The fruit is a large, round, spiny, fleshy capsule that can be opened by two to three valves. It contains one to four smooth, shiny brown, globular seeds with a prominent, grayish hilum that have no endosperm. The embryo has two large, differently sized cotyledons; from these, a sheath arises surrounding the seedling which is placed in a hollow between the two cotyledons.

Keywords

Somatic Embryo Somatic Embryogenesis Embryogenic Callus Zygotic Embryo Leaf Explants 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1995

Authors and Affiliations

  • P. Profumo
  • P. Gastaldo
    • 1
  1. 1.Institute of BotanyUniversity of GenoaGenoaItaly

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