Open Access

ARTICLE

Observation on Flower Bud Differentiation of Crape Myrtle in Red Soil Environment

Linxue Shang^1,2,3,#, Dandan Ma^4,#, Sidan Hong^1,2,3,#, Yu Zhao^1,2,3,#, Guozhe Zhang^1,2,3,#, Qingqing Ma^1,2,3, Qun Wang^1,2,3,*, Cuihua Gu^1,2,3,*

1 College of Landscape and Architecture, Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University, Hangzhou, 311300, China
2 Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Germplasm Innovation and Utilization for Garden Plants, Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University, Hangzhou, 311300, China
3 Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Germplasm Innovation and Utilization for Southern Garden Plants, Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University, Hangzhou, 311300, China
4 Jiyang College of Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University, Shaoxing, 311800, China

* Corresponding Authors: Cuihua Gu. Email: ; Qun Wang. Email:
# These authors contributed equally to this work

(This article belongs to this Special Issue: The Effect of Soil Quality Degradation on the Plant Growth, Quality and Food Safety in Subtropical Agroforestry Ecosystems)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2022, 91(12), 2607-2617. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.022485

Received 12 March 2022; Accepted 14 April 2022; Issue published 29 August 2022

Abstract

Flower bud differentiation is a key component of plant blooming biology and understanding how it works is vital for flowering regulation and plant genetic breeding, increasing the number and quality of flowering. Red soil is the most widely covered soil type in the world, and it is also the most suitable soil type for crape myrtle planting. The flower buds of crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) planted in red soil were employed as experimental materials in this study, and the distinct periods of differentiation were identified using stereomicroscopy and paraffin sectioning. We optimized the steps of dehydration, transparency, embedding, sectioning and staining when employing paraffin sections. When seen under a microscope, this optimization can make the cell structure of paraffin sections obvious, the tissue structure complete, and the staining clear and natural. The flower bud differentiation process is divided into 7 periods based on anatomical observations of the external morphology and internal structure during flower bud differentiation: undifferentiated period, start of differentiation period, inflorescence differentiation period, calyx differentiation period, petal differentiation period, stamen differentiation period, and pistil differentiation period. The differentiation time is concentrated from the end of May to mid-June. Crape myrtle flower bud differentiation is a complicated process, and the specific regulatory mechanism and affecting elements need to be investigated further.

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