Cortical ontogeny in roots of the aquatic plant, Hydrocharis morsus-ranae L.

Tissues in adventitious roots of Hydrocharis morsus-ranae L. developed from a four-tiered apical meristem. A set of periclinal divisions in the outermost layer of the ground meristem produced a hypodermis, which was normally uniformly biseriate. Aerenchyma formed from the adjacent inner layer of the cortex by a series of cell divisions and cell lyses; three- to five-celled, radial aerenchyma strands formed by periclinal divisions in radial cell files 0.3-5 mm behind the apex. Intervening cells underwent anticlinal and periclinal divisions followed by cell lyses within 1 mm of the apex to produce air spaces. Aerenchyma formation in this species is unusual and presents a unique system suitable for a study of developmentally programmed cell death in parenchyma cells. The endodermis formed a complete Casparian band about 10 mm behind the root apex and did not develop further; it had neither suberin lamellae nor secondary walls. The hypodermis was parenchymatous and was without Casparian bands, suberin lamellae, and secondary walls. Following acid digestion, the wavy walls of the endodermis and the walls of the epidermis remained.Key words: aerenchyma, cell death, endodermis, Hydrocharis, hypodermis, root development.