Experimental Production of a Protostele from a Dictyostele in Dryopteris aristata

Abstract

In leptosporangiate ferns the incipient vascular tissue can be observed as an uninterrupted layer situated immediately below the apical meristem from which it is derived and enclosing a central pith. In this cone of incipient vascular tissue no leaf-gaps are present. The apical meristem can be isolated from the adjacent lateral organs (leaf primordia and scales) and tissues by vertical incisions^1,2. This operation involves the severance of the incipient vascular tissue, the isolated meristem being now seated on a thin layer of incipient vascular tissue and the latter on a plug of pith parenchyma.