Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T07:07:54.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

XX.—The Floral Meristem as a Reaction System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

C. W. Wardlaw
C. W. Wardlaw
Affiliation:
Department of Cryptogamic Botany, University of Manchester.
Get access

Synopsis

Floral ontogenesis has long been a preoccupation of morphologists. In trying to understand the physiological mechanism that underlies and determines the orderly formation of the several kinds of floral organs, it is essential to consider the organization and functional activities of the apex of the antecedent leafy shoot. The most general characteristic of the growing shoot apical meristem is that it gives rise to a succession of regularly spaced leaf primordia, sometimes of very variable form and structure, these having their inception in loci of special metabolism, or growth centres. The latter, typically originate in the sub-distal region of the meristem. The initial state of this region, which consists of equivalent embryonic cells, may be such that the reacting metabolic substances are homogeneously distributed in it. A contemporary chemical theory of morphogenesis envisages the possibility that a reaction system of this kind, in obedience to the laws of physical chemistry and mathematics, and on being activated, can give rise to a patternized distribution of metabolites, e.g. of growth centres, this constituting the chemical basis for the ensuing morphogenetic developments. This general property of the apex is maintained throughout the flora development, however much it may be modified in other ways. It is also known that the positions of new primordia are affected by those already present round the meristem.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 66 , Issue 4 , 1957 , pp. 394 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1957

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References to Literature

Bailey, I. W., 1954. Contributions to Plant Anatomy. Waltham, Mass.Google Scholar
Bunning, E., 1948. Entwicklungs- und Bewegungsphysiologie der Pflanze. Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunning, E., 1952. “Morphogenesis in plants”, Surv. Biol. Progr., 2, 105.Google Scholar
Buvat, R., 1952. “Structure, évolution et fonctionnement du méristème apical de quelques dicotylédones”, Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot), 13, 199–300.Google Scholar
Buvat, R. 1955 “Le méristème apicale de la tige”, Ann. Biol., 31, 596–656.Google Scholar
Cusick, F., 1956. “Some experimental studies of floral development”, Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., 63, 153–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutter, E. G., 1955. “Observations on some abnormal fruits of the tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum Mill”, Phytomorph., 5, 274–286.Google Scholar
Douglas, G. E., 1944. “The inferior ovary”, Bot. Rev., 10, 125–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eames, A. J., 1931. ‘The vascular anatomy of the flower with refutation of the theory of carpel polymorphism”, Amer.J. Bot., 18, 147–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engard, C. J., 1944. “Organogenesis in Rubus”, Res. Publ. Univ. Hawii, 21, 1–234.Google Scholar
Esau, K., 1953. Plant Anatomy. New York.Google Scholar
Foster, A. S., 1929. “Investigations on the morphology and comparative history of development of foliar organs. I. The foliage leaves and cataphyllary structures in the horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum L.)”, Amer. J. Bot., 18, 243–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, A. S., 1935. “A histogenic study of foliar development in Carya Buckleyi var. Arkansana”, Amer.J. Bot., 22, 88–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goebel, K., 1922. “Gesetzmässigkeiten in Blattaufbau”, Bot. Abh., 1.Google Scholar
Grégoire, V., 1938. “La morphogenèse et I'autonomie morphologique de l'apparail floral. I. Le carpelle”, Cellule, 47, 285–452.Google Scholar
Gunckel, J. E., and Sparrow, A. H., 1954. “Aberrant growth in plants induced by ionizing radiation”, Brookhaven Symp. Biol., 6, 252–279.Google Scholar
Heslop-Harrison, Y., 1953. “Nuphar intermedia Ledeb., a presumed relict hybrid”, Watsonia, 3, 7.Google Scholar
Marsden-Jones, E. M., 1933. Proc. Linn. Soc. (Bot), 50, 39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mather, K., 1944. “Genetical control of incompatibility in angiosperms and fungi”, Nature, 153, 392–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mather, K., 1948. “Nucleus and cytoplasm in differentiation“, Soc. Exp. Biol. Symp., 2, 195–216.Google Scholar
Murneek, A. F., 1927. “Physiology of reproduction in horticultural plants. II. The physiological basis of intermittent sterility with special reference to the spider flower”, Res. Bull. Univ. Mo. Agric. Exp. Sta., 106, 1–30.Google Scholar
Perj, A. M., 1952. “Some causes of variation in Ranunculus ficaria L”, Ark. Bot., 2, 251–264.Google Scholar
Plantefol, L., 1938. L'ontogenie de la Fleur. Paris.Google Scholar
Schoute, J. C, 1936. “Fasciation and dichotomy”, Rec. Trav. Bot. JVeer., 33. 649.Google Scholar
Schüepp, O., 1929. “Untersuchungen zur Beschreibenden und experimentellen Entwicklungsgeschichte von Acer pseudoplantanus”, Jb. Wiss. Bot., 70, 743–804.Google Scholar
Sironval, C, 1957. La photoperiode et la sexualisation du fraisier des quatresaisons (métabolisme chlorophyllien et hormone florigéne). Thesis: Univ. Liege.Google Scholar
Stebbins, G. L. Jr., 1950. Variation and Evolution in Plants. New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tepfer, S. S., 1953. “Floral anatomy and ontogeny in Aquilegia formosa var. truncata and Ranunculus repens”. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot., 25, 513–648.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. MCL., 1937. “On the place of ontogeny in floral inquiry”, Publ. Hartley Bot. Labs. Lpool. Univ., 17, 3–20.Google Scholar
Turing, A. M., 1952. “The chemical basis of morphogenesis”, Phil. Trans., B, 237. 37–72.Google Scholar
Wardlaw, C. W., 1953. “A commentary on Turing's diffusion reaction theory of morphogenesis”, New Phytol., 52, 40–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wardlaw, C. W., 1955 “Evidence relating to the diffusion-reaction theory of morphogenesis”, New Phytol., 54, 39–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wardlaw, C. W. 1955 “The chemical concept of organisation in plants”, New Phytol., 54, 302–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wardlaw, C. W. 1955 “Responses of a fern apex to direct chemical treatments”, Nature, 176, 1098–1100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wardlaw, C. W. 1957. “Experimental and analytical studies of pteridophytes. XXXV, The effects of direct applications of various substances to the shoot apex of Dryopteris austriaca (D. aristaia)”, Ann. Bot., 21, 85–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wardlaw, C. W. 1957 “On the organisation and reactivity of the shoot apex in vascular plants”, Amer. J. Bot., 4.Google Scholar
Worsdell, W. C, 1916. The Principles of Plant-Teratology. London.Google Scholar