STUDIES IN THE MORPHOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY OF THE PINEAPPLE¹

Abstract

(With I figure in the text) F OLLOWING upon research on the anatomical structure of the seedlings and the morphology of the seed of the pineapple-the results of which were published in the New Phytologist (Thomas and Holmes (15))-interest was aroused in the food-storage products of the seed. Various hybrid forms oi Ananas seed, obtained from Hawaii, were placed at my disposal by Dr E. N. Miles Thomas, who suggested that I should begin an investigation to try and discover if any differences could be detected in the food storage products of these seeds. As the different varieties of pineapple differ in the flavour of their fruits and therefore must differ slightly in the chemical composition of their fruits it was thought that small differences might also reveal themselves in the composition of the seeds. This has been found to be the case.A study of the literature of the subject showed how complex is the problem of the composition of seeds-many factors, both environmental and hereditary, being involved in determining the products stored in any seed.The influence of heredity on seed composition has been shown in several cases by comparing the proportion of compounds fotmd in different varieties of the same plant when grown under the same external conditions. It has been shown in the case of wheat (Roberts (13)), maize (Guerrant(6)), peas (Guerrant(6)), soy-beans (Fellers(4), Lewkowitsch(iO)), cotton seed (Schwartze and Alsberg{i4)), etc., that different varieties of these plants when grown under the same conditions produce differing amounts of the various chemical products 1 I. "The development and structure of the seedling and young plant of the Pineapple." New Phyt. 29, 1930. -Part of thesis approved for the Master of Science degree of the University of London.

Assimilation of Ammonium and Nitrate by Pineapple Plants Grown in Nutrient Solutions and Its Effects on Nitrogenous and Carbohydrate Constitutents

“…The greater rate of ammonium absorption was responsible for the greater quantities of total nitrogen found in plants with ammonium nutrition, and may also account for the higher amounts of chlorophyll and the greater tissue succulence in these plants. 3. Ammonium nitrogen was apparently assimiliated in the roots as rapidly as it was absorbed; the immediate products of its assimilation were amino acids, and small quantities of glutamine and asparagine.…”

Endosperm development in Dyckia pseudococcinea (Pitcairnioideae - Bromeliaceae)

“…The distinction of an aleurone layer was suggested by Szidat (1922) to Bromeliaceae and later recorded in Ananas sativus Schult. (Holmes 1933), A. comosus (Wee & Rao 1974), Tillandsia juncea Willd. (Cecchi Fiordi et al 2001) and Catopsis paniculata E. Morren (Palaci et al 2004).…”