The accumulation of oil in maturing safflower seeds was studied with an electron microscope. It was suggested that net-like clusters of proteinaceous particles in the cytoplasm are the site of triacylglycerol synthesis. No evidence was obtained to support the hypothesis that oleosomes originate in the. endoplasmic reticulum. A hypothesis has been proposed that triacylglycerols are initially synthesized by the net-like clusters in the cytoplasm to form a protein-oil complex, and the triacylglycerols are concentrated in the center of the cluster as their formation proceeds.

Six polyacetylenes have been isolated from immature seeds of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) by thin-layer chromatography. They were identified as I,ll-tridecadiene-3,5,7,9-tetrayne, 1,3, I1-tridecatriene-5, 7,9-triyne, 1 ,3,5,11-tridecatetraene-7 ,9-diyne, I-tridecene-3,5,7 ,9,II-pentayne, 1 ,3-tridecadiene-5, 7 ,9, II-tetrayne and 1 ,3,5-tridecatriene-7,9, 11-triyne from the results of their spectroscopic and chemical analyses. Three of these polyacetylenes had not been isolated from Carthamus tinclorius L.Changes in the polyacetylene content during maturation were followed by the measurement of ultraviolet absorbance. While 1 ,3,II-tridecatriene-5, 7,9-triyne and 1,3,5, ll-tridecatetraene-7,9-diyne had already occurred abundantly at the day of flowering, the amounts of the other polyacetylenes reached the maximum values at the fourth to sixth days after flowering. Although the total amounts of the six polyacetylenes were about 0.8 mmole/g lipid at the fourth day after flowering, no polyacetylene was detected in the mature seeds.