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The morphogenetic rôle of apical meristems: fundamental aspects (illustrated by means of the shoot apical meristem)

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Differentiation and Development / Differenzierung und Entwicklung

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Abstract

In all vascular plants, as in many non-vascular ones, the polarity of the new individual, with distinction of apex and base (or of distal and proximal regions respectively), is already established by the time the fertilised egg has undergone its first division, this being usually though not invariably by a transverse wall. The axial development thus has its inception at the outset of the ontogenesis, the apical pole being typically characterised by active protein synthesis, in contrast to the basal pole where the uptake and utilisation of osmotically active substances is a more evident feature1. The related histological developments include the formation of a distal region of densely protoplasmic, embryonic, or meristematic cells, which sooner or later become organized as the shoot apex, comprising the apical meristem and first leaf primordium or primordia, and a basal foot, or a suspensor, or both, the cells of which soon become enlarged, vacuolated and parenchymatous.

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Authors
  1. C. W. Wardlaw
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of Manchester, Manchester, Great Britain

    Allan Allsopp Ph.S., D.Sc. (Senior Lecturer in Cryptogamic Botany) & K. J. Dormer (Dr.) (Senior Lecturer in Cryptogamic Botany) &  (Dr.)

  2. 518 South 42nd Street, Philadelphia, Pa., USA

    Robert Bloch (Dr.) (Dr.)

  3. Department of Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

    John Tyler Bonner (Dr., Professor) (Dr., Professor)

  4. Institut für Botanik, Technischen Hochschule Hannover, 3 Hannover-Herrenhausen, Herrenhäuser Str. 2, Deutschland

    Martin Bopp (Dr., o. Professor der Botanik) (Dr., o. Professor der Botanik)

  5. Laboratoire de Morphologie animale, Université libre, 1850 Chaussée de Wavre, Bruxelles, Belgique

    Jean Brachet (Dr., Professor) (Dr., Professor)

  6. Department of Botany, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, Great Britain

    Robert Brown (Dr., Professor) & John Kenneth Heyes (Dr.) (Dr., Professor) &  (Dr.)

  7. Botanisches Institut, Universität, 74 Tübingen, Deutschland

    Erwin Bünning (Dr., Professor) (Dr., Professor)

  8. Laboratoire de Botanique, École Normale supérieure, 24, Rue Lhomond, Paris-Ve, France

    Roger Buvat (Dr., Professeur) (Dr., Professeur)

  9. Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

    Edward C. Cantino (Dr., Professor) (Dr., Professor)

  10. Faculté des Sciences, 1 Avenue Vercingétorix, Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, France

    Paul Champagnat (Dr., Professeur de Physiologie végétale) (Dr., Professeur de Physiologie végétale)

  11. Laboratorium voor Tuinbouwplantenteelt, Landbouwhoogeschool, P.O. Box 30, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Jan Doorenbos (Dr.) (Dr.)

  12. Federal Experiment Station, Crops Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, USA

    Luis E. Gregory (Dr., Plant Physiologist) (Dr., Plant Physiologist)

  13. Botanisches Institut, Universität Frankfurt, Siesmayerstr. 70, 6 Frankfurt/Main, Deutschland

    Wilhelm Halbsguth (Dr., ao. Professor) (Dr., ao. Professor)

  14. Department of Botany, University of Bristol, Bristol, Great Britain

    Lilian E. Hawker (Dr., Reader in Mycology) (Dr., Reader in Mycology)

  15. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Anton Lang (Dr., Professor of Biology) (Dr., Professor of Biology)

  16. Department of Genetics, The University, Edgbaston, Birmingham 15, Great Britain

    Kenneth Mather C.B.E., D.Sc., F.R.S. (Professor) (Professor)

  17. Le Phytotron, Gif-sur-Yvette, S.-et-O., France

    Jean P. Nitsch (Dr., Associate Director) (Dr., Associate Director)

  18. Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Great Britain

    Philip S. Nutman (Dr.) (Dr.)

  19. 119 North College Ave.,, Claremont, California, USA

    Mildred Smith Quinlan (Mrs.), M. Sc. (Project Assistant) (Project Assistant)

  20. Department of Bacteriology, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Mildred Smith Quinlan (Mrs.), M. Sc. (Project Assistant) & Kenneth B. Raper (Dr., Professor of Bacteriology and Botany) (Project Assistant) &  (Dr., Professor of Bacteriology and Botany)

  21. Laboratorium voor Plantkunde, Landbouwhogeschool, Arboretumlaan 4, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Cornelia A. Reinders-Gouwentak (Dr., Professor) (Dr., Professor)

  22. Pharmakognostisches Institut der Universität, Nußallee 2, 53 Bonn, Deutschland

    Maximilian Steiner (Dr., o. Professor) (Dr., o. Professor)

  23. Botanisches Institut, 355 Marburg/Lahn, Deutschland

    Hans-Adolf von Stosch (Dr., Professor) (Dr., Professor)

  24. Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    John G. Torrey (Dr., Professor of Botany) (Dr., Professor of Botany)

  25. University of Manchester, Manchester, Great Britain

    Claude Wilson Wardlaw (Professor of Botany) (Professor of Botany)

  26. Strangeways Research Laboratory, Cambridg, Great Britain

    Michael Webb D.Sc., Ph.D., Ph.D.

  27. Genetisches Institut, Universität Kopenhagen, Kopenhagen, Dänemark

    Diter von Wettstein (fil. dr., Dr. rer. nat., Professor) (fil. dr., Dr. rer. nat., Professor)

  28. The Plant Research Institute, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA

    W. Gordon Whaley (Dr., Professor of Botany and Director) (Dr., Professor of Botany and Director)

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© 1965 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Wardlaw, C.W. (1965). The morphogenetic rôle of apical meristems: fundamental aspects (illustrated by means of the shoot apical meristem). In: Allsopp, A., et al. Differentiation and Development / Differenzierung und Entwicklung. Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology / Handbuch der Pflanzenphysiologie. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-36273-0_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-36273-0_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-35445-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-36273-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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