Fine structure study of pollen development in Haemanthus katherinae baker: III. changes in organelles during development of the vegetative cell

The newly formed vegetative cell of the pollen grain of the African blood lily has a spheroidal nucleus, few dictyosomes, and a small amount of endoplasmic reticulum. Plastids are smaller than those of the microspore and usually lack starch granules. Mitochondria and lipid bodies are more numerous than they were in the microspores, but their appearance is unchanged. As the pollen grain matures, the vegetative nucleus becomes irregular in shape. There is a dramatic increase in the number of dictyosomes, starch accumulates in the plastids, and a moderately well developed system of endoplasmic reticulum appears in the form of fiat cisternae. In the developmental period immediately preceding anthesis, the vegetative nucleus becomes lobate and small nucleoli replace the large nucleoli present earlier. Plastids lose their starch, lipid bodies disappear, and the endoplasmic reticulum becomes vesicular in this final stage before germination.