Vol. 41 No. 3 
BULLETIN 
OF THE 
TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 
a ee 
MARCH, 1914 
Seed development in the genus Peperomia* 
G. CLYDE FISHER 
(WITH PLATES 3-6 AND A TEXT FIGURE) 
The abnormal embryo sac is doubtless the most interesting 
feature of the development of the ovule and seed in the genus 
Peperomia. The first sixteen-nucleate embryo sac, found in 
Angiosperms, was that discovered by Campbell (6) in 1899, in 
Peperomia pellucida. Johnson (30), in 1900, first described the 
origin and development of the endosperm in P. pellucida. He 
showed that the mature embryo sac of this species contains one 
€gg, one synergid, six nuclei which are cut off singly about the 
periphery of the sac and which finally degenerate, and eight nuclei 
which fuse to form the endosperm nucleus. Campbell (7), in 1901, 
confirmed the work of Johnson in all these features, except the 
Number of synergids, which he thought might often be two. 
Schnegg (64), in 1902, reported a sixteen-nucleate embryo sac in 
Gunnera, a genus of the Haloragidaceae not at all closely related 
to Peperomia of the Piperaceae. Johnson (32), in 1902, showed 
that two species of the closely related genus Piper have typical 
eight-nucleate mature embryo sacs. In 1907, Johnson (34) de- 
Scribed a new type of mature embryo sac in Peperomia hispidula, 
which likewise contained one egg and one synergid, but in which 
all the remaining fourteen nuclei fuse to form the endosperm 
nucleus. Ernst (21), in 1908, reported a sixteen-nucleate sac in 
Gunnera macrophylla. In 1908, Brown (4) reported, for three more 
* Botanical Contribution from The Johns Hopkins University, No. 35. 
(The BULLETIN for February (41: 71-136) was issued 23 Mr r1914.] 
137 
