Developmental morphology of one-leaf plant Monophyllaea singularis (Gesneriaceae)

Developmental morphology is described of the one-leaf plant Monophyllae asingularis which possesses a huge macrocotyledon, a long petiolode below it, and many small inflorescences scattered along the petiolode and midrib. Cell proliferation and basipetal differentiation occur in both cotyledons after water imbibition and germination. The basal meristem forms from a group of small, least differentiated cells at the base of a future macrocotyledon and continues blade production even at the reproductive stage. The petiolode meristem, which forms as an intercalary meristem near the base of the macrocotyledon, contributes to the elongation of the petiolode and the midrib. Although the ‘groove meristem’, like the groove meristem of Streptocarpus, forms between the cotyledons at the site of a shoot apical meristem, it is not involved in inflorescence production. In M. singularis, instead of the ‘groove meristem’, the inflorescences are initiated adventitiously from groups of cells in the dermal and subdermal layers of the petiolode and probably also of the midrib.