Vascular anatomy and flower morphology in Allium victorialis L. Sp. Pl. (Amaryllidaceae J.St.-Hil.)

Abstract

The morphological structure and vascular anatomy of the Allium montanum flower were studied. New micromorphological features of the vertical zonality of the gynoecium, the vascular anatomy of the flower and the structure of the septal nectary, which were not previously used in the taxonomy of the Amaryllidaceae family were described. Micromorphological preparations of 15 flowers of Allium montanum were prepared using standard methods of impregnation of plant material with paraffin. Sections of a flower at the bud stage with a thickness of 15-20 μm using a rotary microtome were described. We established the presence of three vertical zones in the gynoecium of Allium montanum: the synascidiate zone, the symplicate structural zone and the hemisymplicate zone. Flower micromorphology and vascular anatomy were studied using cross-sections of flowers. The peduncle of Allium montanum contains 8 vascular bundles, which form a vascular cylinder above, from which traces of tepals and traces of stamens depart at the level of the corolla, and even higher - traces of dorsal carpel bundles. Stamens separate from the ovary. The style is immersed in the ovary, gynobasic. In the center remains a circle of small vascular bundles - the roots of the ventral complex, which are reorganized higher at the level of the appearance of the locules into paired vascular bundles - the ventral carpel bundles. There are 2 ovules in each locule, the trace of the ovule is single-bundle. Dorsal vascular bundles are single-bundled. Above the ovary locules, the ventral carpel bundles end blindly. Traces of outer tepals and inner tepals are single-bundled. The trace of the stamen is single-bundled.

The newly obtained features of the micromorphology and vascular anatomy of the Allium montanum flower will help us in the study of other representatives of the genus Allium and will give us the opportunity to compare the obtained morphological and anatomical features with the features we previously studied in representatives of the Amaryllidaceae for the possibility of their use in the family taxonomy.