Abstract:
【Objective】The microform of different tea floral structures was observed and analyzed, which would provide reference for the identification and utilization of tea tree germplasm.【Method】The vacuum freeze drying and field emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM) observations were applied to investigate floral micromorphological traits of 11 tea,
Camellia sinensis(L.) O. Kuntze, germplasms, and the coefficient of variation and principal coordinates were analyzed. The epidermal micromorphological traits(epidermises ornamentation, stomata and trichome ornamentation) of tea floral organs, such as peduncles, receptacles, sepal, petal, ovary, style, stigma and filament, were reported and analyzed.【Result】The peduncle and receptacle epidermises were similar in stripe shape. And trichomes and stomata were found in some germplasms. The inner epidermises of tea sepals were smooth, and could be divided into three types:uneven, concave and plump epidermal cells. There were smooth trichomes on the inner epidermises of the sepals. The outer epidermises of sepals were smooth and striated. There were irregular stomata on the surface, and different tea germplasms had different stomatal characteristics. The shapes of petal epidermal cells could be divided into four types:irregular, pentagon, hexagon and nearly round. On the petal epidermises, the wavy, striate and radial ornamentation were distributed. The filament epidermal cells were irregular polygons with stomates. The epidermises were closely arranged with wavy, filiform and striped epidermal ornamentation. Stomata were distributed in the middle and lower segments of filament. The epidermal cells of styles were neatly arranged, and the cell shapes could be divided into three types:fusiform, elongated and polygonal. The epidermal cells of ovary were different in the degree of smoothness, and were covered with smooth type trichomes. The stomatal quantitative characters in flower organs of tea germplasm were measured, the peduncle stomach size were 142.99-431.66μm
2, and the stomatal aperture were 0.19-0.92. The receptacles stomach size were 201.48-642.17μm
2, and the stomatal aperture were 0.26-0.62. The sepal stomach size were 219.74-563.32μm
2, and the stomatal aperture were 0.37-0.52. The petal stomach size were 401.80-1322.07μm
2, and the stomatal aperture were 0.38-0.66. The filament stomach size were 257.90-706.74μm
2, and the stomatal aperture were 0.32-0.73. The variations of all stomatal quantitative characters were analyzed, and the average coefficient of variation was 18.5%. The principal coordinate analysis of 11 germplasms were carried out with all 40 micromorphological traits and 16 qualitative micromorphological traits, the results showed that only the quality traits could be used to distinguish the germplasms. It indicated that the quantitative stomatal traits had large variations intro-germplasm, while qualitative traits had strong genetic stability.【Conclusion】In the classification and identification of tea plants, the quality characters of flower organs can be properly considered, and the ornamentation characteristics of sepals and ovary walls of flower organs can be preferentially selected as the basis for identifying different tea varieties.