Flower Development and Anatomy of Agapanthus praecox ssp. orientalis (Leighton) Leighton

Floral buds of Agapanthus praecox ssp. orientalis were observed under dissecting and optical microscope to characterize floral organs development and to study relationships between anther development and microsporogenesis. Floral organs differentiation was comprised of 6 distinct stages including nought differentiation, inflorescence bud differentiation, floret primordia differentiation, tepal primordia differentiation, stamen primordia differentiation, and pistil primordia differentiation. Six tepals differentiated almost simultaneously which cross arranged in space and appeared in hexagonal distribution pattern. Six stamens were differentiated inside the tepals at the same time. Finally, 3 carpel primordia differentiated and formed syncarpous pistil. The whole process of floral bud differentiation took approximately 40 d with the first 3 stages developing more slowly than the later 3 stages. Morphology and color of the anther underwent obvious changes during the period between stamen primordia differentiation and anther maturation. Microspores also underwent significant development during this same interval. The relationship between the process of microsporogenesis and anther development has already been made clear by the squash technique.