A study of microsporgenesis and male gametogenesis in Camellia grijsii Hamce

Camellia grijsii Hamce is used as a woody edible oil tree and wellknow for its commercial value in Southern China. The plants rarely set viable seeds and have little work on the reproduction biology. In order to verify whether there was any obstacle of male reproduction in the C. grijsii, microsporgenesis and male gametogenesis in C. grijsii have been evaluated by paraffin section technique. The results are showed that the development of the anther wall belonged to a basic type and consisted of epidermis, endothecium, middle layers and tapetum. The tapetum conformed to the glandular type. Cytokinesis during meiosis of the microspore mother cell was simultaneous type. A majority of the microspores were arranged in tetrahedral tetrads. The mature pollen grains were 2-cell type and had three germ pores. Anthers were dehiscent and pollen grains shed on the early-February. Based our results, we did not find the abnormal male flower in the C. grijsii, suggesting that male gametes were fertile and male sterility was not the major cause of the low seed set in the C. grijsii. © Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2013.