Differentiation, Organogenesis, and the Tectonics of Cell Wall Orientation. I. Preliminary Observations on the Development of the Ovule in Cotton

This paper, the first of a series of three, raises the general question of the relationship between stress, organogenesis, and cell wall orientation in a growing structure. It outlines a short descriptive chronology of events in the prepollination development of the ovule in cotton and proceeds to a brief experimental comparison of nucellar development in tissue culture with and without integuments. The significance of the integuments as mechanical effectors is discussed in terms of stresses which they induce in the growing ovule.