Embryo sac and embryo of Moringa oleifera, Lamk.

Abstract

This plant was first investigated in 1923 by F. L. Rutgers1, who makes some astonishing statements regarding the development of the embryo sac and embryo. He states that the archesporial cell is deep-seated in the nucellus, and functions directly as the megaspore mother cell without cutting off any parietal tissue. This on reduction gives rise to a T-shaped tetrad of megaspores of which the lower produces a 5-nucleate embryo sac. He further remarks that the fertilised egg undergoes several free nuclear divisions and wall-formation starts only after sixteen nuclei have been formed.