Morphological Observation on the Flowers and Fruits of Different Germplasm Materials of Ilex kudingcha C. J. Tseng in China

Key words: 
• Kudingcha /
• Ilex kudingcha C.J.Tseng /
• morphology /
• taxonomy

Abstract: A systematic observation was made on the morphology of the flowers and fruits of the germplasm materials of Ilex kudingcha C. J. Tseng conserved in the Kudingcha Germplasm Banks of Hainan University. The results showed that there were some morphological differences of the flower and that of the fruits in I. kudingcha,between the descriptions in typical taxonomic literature and our observations. According to the typical taxonomic literature,the number of floral parts of I. kudingcha is 4,while our observations showed that the number of floral parts was usually 4,but 3,5,6,even 8 foral parts were also observed in some florets. These differences mainly showed as the followings. 1) The number of petals in a floret was usually 4,but 3,5,6,even 8 petals were also observed in the same floret. The number of stamens in a floret was usually 4,but 3,5,6,even 8 stamens were also observed in the same floret. 2) Usually,there were 4 loculi in an ovary. But 2,3,5,6,even8 loculi were also observed in the same ovary in some germplasm materials. 3) Usually,there were 4 pits in a fruit. But 3,5,6,even 8 pits were also observed in a few of fruits in some germplasm materials. 4) According to the descriptions of the typical taxonomic literature there was only 1 ovule in a loculus of ovary. However,2 ovules could also be observed in the same loculus in few. of gerplasm materials. Which was the so-called "polyembryony". The mechanism of polyembryony occurrence,as well as the latent importance in breeding of the perennial woody plant,such as I. kudingcha,were discussed in this paper. 5) According to the descriptions of the typical taxonomic literature,the plants of I. kudingcha were dioecious. While our observation results showed that the plants of I. kudingcha were usually dioecious,that the typical male germplasm materials accounted for 45. 45%,and that the typical fame germplasm materials accounted for 44. 16%. However,there were an other 10. 39 % germplasm materials,in which the undeveloped ovaries of the different flores were degenerate by different degrees. A series of transition types could be observed,from a small protuberance of the undeveloped ovaries to the complete flowers with normally developed stamens and pistils.