Morphology, anatomy and ontogeny of the fruits and seeds of Clusia lanceolata Cambess. (Clusiaceae) - doi: 10.4025/actascibiolsci.v32i4.3567

Abstract

Clusia lanceolata Cambess. is a shrub species native to the Atlantic Forest. The plant is dioecious, with large, showy, pink staminate and pistillate flowers that are wine-colored internally. The morphological and structural aspects of the fruits and seeds of this species are described here in order to correctly classify the fruit type and to determine the origin of the fleshy appendage that surrounds the seeds. The botanical material utilized here contained flowers in anthesis and fruits in four stages of development, and were collected from two different plants. The morphological and anatomical studies were performed according to traditional techniques. The fruit is a septifrage, spherical capsule with a reddish-green coloration. The exocarp is uniseriate; the parenchymatous mesocarp contains numerous secretory ducts and vascular bundles arranged in predominantly longitudinal positions. The endocarp is derived from the internal epidermis of the ovary and has from three to four subepidermal layers whose component cells are tangentially elongated, and the cell walls lining the locule become lignified. The fruits open by means of the carpelar suture, along a stand of small parenchymous cells that bifurcate in the direction of the locules, in the midst of the septum. The anatropous bi-tegumented ovules, with an endothelium and hypostase, give rise to seeds that are likewise anatropous, exotegmic, and wrapped in an aril that has a funicular and exostomal origin. The embryo is hypocotylar.