Abstracts of published results on tropical achlorophyllous, mycotrophic plants. Emphasis on morphology, anatomy, mycorrhiza and ecology.

Diallo, A., Weber, H. Chr. & Imhof, S. (2001):

Sonderstellung der Mykorrhiza von Mercurialis perennis L. im Vergleich mit anderen Euphorbiaceae

Beitr. Biol. Pflanzen 72: 315 - 323.

Abstract:

Mercurialis perennis shows a Paris-type VAM, characterized through an exclusively intracellular colonization of the cortex cells by coiled hyphae. Arbuscules are mostly developed laterally as reduced small shrub-like structures at the hyphal coils. Vesicles were not found. In contrast, Euphorbia pulcherrima Willdenow, Manihot esculenta Crantz, Pedilanthus tithymaloides L. and Ricinus communis L. show an Arum-type VAM, with a predominantly intercellular spread of the hyphae, developing large intracellular arbuscules as lateral branches and intracellular as well as intercellular vesicles. Due to its extratropical distribution as well as many morphological features, Mercurialis perennis is to be considered as an advanced member of its family. The finding of a Paris-Type in Mercurialis perennis and Arum-Typs VAM in the other Euphorbiaceae therefore support the previously suggested hypothesis of a phylogenetically more advanced position of the Paris-Type VAM.

Publicationlist

Last revised on 23 February 2004 by Stephan Imhof
Email: imhof@mailer.uni-marburg.de