荔枝花蜜腺的结构发育特点及其生物学意义-JournalofSystematics.PDFVIP

植 物 分 类 学 报 44 (5): 523–537 (2006) doi:10.1360/aps050100 Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica 荔枝花蜜腺的结构发育特点及其生物学意义 宁熙平 吴 鸿* (华南农业大学药用植物研究中心 广州 510642) The structural and developmental characteristics of floral nectaries of Litchi chinensis and their biological significance * NING Xi-Ping WU Hong (Center for Medicinal Plant Research, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China) Abstract Floral nectaries attract insect pollinators through secreted nectar. The structure and the size of floral nectaries are determining factors of the quantity and concentration of the nectar produced, which may consequently influence the patterns of insect visitation. In this study, we examined the structural and developmental characteristics of the floral nectaries of Litchi chinensis of “Nuomici” and “Feizixiao”. In two variety of L. chinensis , the floral nectaries of both functional male and female flowers are located between the cup-shaped calyx and the ovary. These floral nectaries are typical structural nectaries, formed as protrusions on the surface of flower receptacles, and at the mature stage, they are composed of epidermis, nectariferous tissue, and vascular tissue containing only phloem elements. The epidermis of the floral nectaries is covered with numerous epidermal hairs, with sporadic stomata distributed on the top surface of the nectaries. Before the nectaries start to secret nectar, the nectariferous tissues are filled with numerous starch grains, which display