Regeneration of Chloroplast Structure in Talbotia Elegans: A Desiccation‐tolerant Plant

SUMMARY Talbotia elegans (Velloziaceae) is a desiccation‐tolerant plant whose dry leaves contain chlorophyll. The plastids of dry viable leaves retain some semblance of thylakoid structure and organization but are in a loose array. This contrasts with desiccation‐tolerant plants that lose chlorophyll during dehydration and reduce the chloroplast to pro‐plastid like bodies containing vesicles and numerous plastoglobuli. During rehydration, the existing thylakoid stacks are rehabilitated by the production of a ‘chloroplast designate’ volume surrounding the mass of thylakoids. This region is delimited by a double membrane and the thylakoids stack to form grana and intergranal lamellae by 24 h of hydration. Few organelles other than the chloroplast initials are easily recognizable in dry leaves but mitochondria, reduced to membrane‐bound sacs in the dry state, reform cristae after full hydration has been achieved.