Phyllotaxis of the palm Euterpe oleracea Mart. at the level of the shoot apical meristem

Abstract

Previous studies on palm phyllotaxis deal mainly with the mature trunk. The goals of this study are (i) to determine the relationship between the number of parastichies, the divergence angle, and the plastochrone ratio at the level of the shoot apical meristem; (ii) to examine whether there are fluctuations in the divergence angle; (iii) to interpret the significance of phyllotactic parameters with respect to the mode of growth of the apex. The tubular base of the leaf primordium is more or less asymmetrical, and completely surrounds the shoot apical meristem. The phyllotactic system corresponds to a (2, 3) conspicuous parastichy pair. The mean divergence angle per apex varies between 126.9° ± 9.3° (mean ± SD) and 135. 8° ± 8.0°. Divergence angles for all apices fluctuate within a range of 115.89° to 157.33°. The mean plastochrone ratios between apices varies from 1.35 ± 0.18 to 1.58 ± 0.12. The plastochrone ratio at each plastochrone for all apices ranges from 1.09 to 2.00. There is no correlation between the angle of divergence and the plastochrone ratio. There is a fluctuation in the value of the divergence angle that falls within the range predicted by the fundamental theorem of phyllotaxis. The high value of the ratio of the diameter of leaf primordia over the diameter of the apex, and the long plastochrone might explain the lack of correlation between certain phyllotactic parameters.