2016 Volume 57 Issue 1 Pages 13-19
Pollen plays an important role in the fertilization of angiosperms: two sperm cells are transmitted to the synergid of embryo sac through the pollen tube, leading to the double fertilization. The generative and sperm cells are generally transparent and colorless, therefore their existence and behavior within pollen tubes cannot be observed by conventional light microscopy. Some members of the Liliaceae, Amaryllidaceae, and Iridaceae are exceptional, in which male sexual cells have been shown to be colored. Our present examination by light and fluorescence microscopy using some familiar plants of these three families revealed that among species with colored generative cell, Iris pseudacorus, a member of the Iridaceae, seemed to be turned to practical use as a material for teaching the role of pollen in the double fertilization of angiosperms in high school biology. In I. pseudacorus, the generative cell, which was fusiform and yellowish brown, entered the pollen tube within one hour after the dispersal of pollen grains on the surface of a solid agar medium, and its behavior within the pollen tube could be observed under the conventional light microscope. A possible content of the class employing the pollen of I. pseudacorus will be discussed.
