The ultrastructure of the blepharoplast and the multilayered structure (MLS) in the fern Osmunda cinnamomea var. asiatica Fernald have been studied by electron microscopy with respect to spermatogenesis. The blepharoplast appears in the young spermatid. The differentiating blepharoplast is approximately a spherical body, which is composed of densely stained granular material in the center and some cylinders outside of it. The differentiated blepharoplast is also a sphere, but without the densely stained material in the center, consisting of scattered or radially arranged cylinders. The MLS seen in the spermatid lies between the basal bodies and the giant mitochondrion. In the early developmental stage, the MLS only consists of lamellar layers, each of which runs parallel to one another and forms a strip. In the mid stage, the MLS is composed of the microtubular ribbon (MTr), the lamellar layers and a layer of plaque. In the late stage, the MLS forms accessory band, osmiophilic crest and a layer of osmiophilic material. The MTr grows out from the MLS and extends along the surface of the nucleus to unite with the nuclear envelope in a complex. The basal body coming from the cylinder produces the axoneme of the flagella in the distal end and the wedge-shaped structure in the proximal end, respectively. In the present study, the ultrastructural features of blepharoplast and the MLS of the protoleptosporangiopsida fern, O. cinnamomea var. asiatica, have been described and compared with those of other kinds of pteridophytes in detail. The lamellar layers appearing before the formation of the MTr was found and reported for the first time.
The ultrastructure of oogenesis in the fern Osmunda cinnamomea L. var. asiatica Fernald has been studied by electron microscopy. During oogenesis, numerous vesicles not only moved towards the periphery, but also were arranged in line along the inside of plasmalemma, and in addition aggregated outside the plasmalemma by exocytosis. They released or excreted osmiophilic material. It was observed that a few vesicles containing lamellar osmiophilic material situated closely along the plasmalemma, seemed to break open. Simultaneously, a separation cavity between egg cell and archegonium wall formed. Its width was broader than the other advanced ferns reported previously, and an extra egg membrane occurred outside around the plasmalemma of the egg, its thickness being greater than in Pteridium and Dryopteris. Amyloplasts around the nucleus were filled with large triangular semicircular or subelliptical starch grains, but as the egg matured they progressively decreased. Nucleus was large and flattened, and paired membrane in two to three couples laid within the nucleus, close and parallel to the nuclear membrane. No nuclear evagination was observed. Mitochondria seemed to have been undeveloped, but finally recovered normally.
