Cytochemical study of developing anthers of Amomum villosum Lour.

We analyzed anther development in Amomum villosum Lour. (Zingiberaceae) using the periodic acid-Schiff's technique and Sudan black staining to test for the presence of starch and lipids, respectively. Our analyses showed that microspore mother cells of A. villosum lack typical callose walls, and numerous lipid granules appear in the cells early in development. Some starch granules are present in anther wall cells, but not in tapetal cells. After meiosis, numerous lipid granules remain unchanged in the microspores. During microspore development, some small starch granules first appear in the central cell region, and then the starch granules increase in size. After microspore division, the bicellular pollen grains become filled with starch and lipids, and remain in this state until the pollen grains reach maturity. At anthesis, the anther wall of A. villosum consists of several layers of endothecium cells with an evidently thickened radial wall, and some layers of parenchyma cells containing numerous starch granules.