title: [Cytological comparison of anther and pollen growth in Liriope spicata var. prolifera and L. spicata].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the difference of anther and pollen growth between Liriope spicata var. prolifera and L. spicate, and investigate the mechanism of the sterility of Liriope spicata var. prolifera.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comparative study on anther and pollen growth process was carried out between L. spicata var. prolifera and L. spicata by means of paraffin section.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In L. spicata, the tapetum was secretory tapetum and began to degrade during dyad stage. The cells of tapetum and middle layer disappeared thoroughly when pollens were fully mature at 3-celled stage. In L. spicata var. prolifera, the degradation of the tapetum took place at the early time of meiosis stage and the tapetum cells inflated like vacuolization. The mononuclear pollens were abortive, which eventually formed abnormal pollens.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The pollen abortion of L. spicata var. prolifera is associated with tapetum heteroplasia and degradation in advance.
authors: Hubei Key Laboratory of Natural Medicinal Chemistry and Resource Evaluation, Tongji School of Pharmaceutical Science, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China. zqtcm@163.com
authors: Qun
authors: Q
authors: Zhou
authors: Jian-Qiu
authors: JQ
authors: Zhou
authors: Jun-Qi
authors: JQ
authors: Cheng
authors: Jing-Jing
authors: JJ
authors: Wang
authors: Jia-Chun
authors: JC
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D035264:Flowers / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D031424:Liriope Plant / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D008540:Meiosis / Q000502:physiology*; D051479:Plant Infertility / Q000502:physiology; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D011058:Pollen / Q000502:physiology*