THE ENDOSPERM 



225 



that the abnormalities described above are due to a high degree of 

 polyploidy in the endosperm. 



There are occasional reports of atypical or irregular divisions of 

 the endosperm nuclei. In Zauschneria latifolia (Johansen, 19316), 

 a member of the Onagraceae, the endo- 

 sperm nuclei lying close to the embryo 

 divide amitotically. In another member 

 of the same family, Anogra pallida (Jo- 

 hansen, 1931c), the unfertilized polar 

 nucleus is said to undergo repeated 

 amitotic divisions to form more than 

 a hundred nuclei of various sizes. 

 There are also other records of amitotic 



divisions in the endosperm, but most 



. , r ,i • i • i r r _ Fig. 122. Embryo sac of Musa 



statements of this kind are tar trom . / 



. . errans, showing tree nuclear en- 



dependable. 6 To mention two examples, dosperm and veside containing 



Longo (1909) failed to find any mitoses nve endosperm nuclei. (After 

 in the endosperm of Ficus carica and Juliano and Alcala, 1933.) 



D E H I 



Fig. 123. Echinocystis macrocarpa, endosperm nuclei, showing peculiar behavior 

 of nucleoli. Only the nucleolus is shown in F-I. (After Scott, W44-) 



6 Appearances formerly accepted as evidences of amitosis are now considered to 

 be the results of deranged mitoses or of nuclear fusions. 



