GROWTH AND MORPHOGENESIS IN THE CANADIAN FOREST SPECIES: III. THE TIME SCALE OF MORPHOGENESIS AT THE STEM APEX OF PINUS RESINOSA AIT.

Abstract

The main shoot apex of P. resinosa is found to comprise four groups of meristematic cells constituting four generative centers by which the parts of the winter terminal bud are laid down. These are the superficial initiating cells, the group or zone of subapical mother cells, the zone of pith mother cells, and the flanking cells.The superficial primordia of the terminal winter bud pass the winter as secondary lateral budlets on the flanks of the main bud axis. Those of the leaf-bearing short shoots do not normally differentiate leaves until the following spring. Neither do those which develop into lateral long shoots. The fertile budlets, on the contrary, produce cones in the late summer and autumn. The female cone enters the winter with no tissue differentiation of the cone body. This takes place very slowly but prominently in the course of the winter. The male inflorescence is well advanced in the autumn and winter progress is relatively slight.The natural control of morphogenesis at the shoot apex including the fitful seeding habit of P. resinosa is considered in the light of the growth timetable. To explain its mechanism, a working hypothesis involving production, consumption, and concentration of auxins is advanced as a preliminary to future work.