ONTOGENY OF STOMATA ON FOLIAR AND FLORAL ORGANS OF SOME SPECIES OF CROTALARIA L

The structure and development of stomata in eight species of Crotalaria belonging to the family Papilionaceae are described. The study is mostly confined to the leaves but it has also been made on the floral organs of C. mysorensis, C. retusa, C. sericea, and C. triquetra. The stomata may be paracytic, anisocytic, anomocytic, diacytic, or with one subsidiary cell. The different types occur individually or they are placed side by side even on the same surface of an organ. In general the paracytic type is by far the commonest, followed by anisocytic and anomocytic ones. Diacytic stomata and those with one subsidiary cell are relatively rare. Different types of stomata in various organs of the same plant develop mesogenously. The present investigation also indicates that the inconstancy of stomata in the family is due to (a) their diversity and (b) an increase in the number of subsidiary cells either by their division or by the neighbouring perigenes becoming subsidiary cell-like. © 1969 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.