POLLEN ABORTION IN THE FLOWER OF MANGOSTEEN

Flowers of mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) were investigated for the degeneration process of pollens in the staminode.
Flower buds were classified into 7 stages (stages I to VII) by their sizes and anthers of each stage were cut off and kept in 70% EtOH before being fixed in FAA solution.
Anthers were embedded into Technovit 7100 resin after fixation and sectioned at 10 µm by microtome before staining with toluidine blue.
Some anthers were also smashed on a slide glass after staining them with acetocarmine.
Observations of these samples showed that an anther has four loculi, each of which contains several microspores.
The microspore mother cells started meiosis at stage III. After meiosis, microspore tetrads were formed normally at stage V. However, some tetrads degenerated without separation at stage VI. The other tetrads separated to form pollen grains, but the protoplasm in pollen grains disintegrated and pollen grains became empty.
No viable pollen grains were produced in the anthers of mangosteen flower.

International Workshop on Tropical and Subtropical Fruits

C. Yapwattanaphun, K. Tachibana, K. Yonemori

mangosteen, microspore mother cell, tetra sporangium, viable pollen

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2008.787.25