Vivipary in Ophiorrhiza mungos L. – a rare phenomenon in angiosperms

Abstract

Vivipary, the precocious germination of seeds within the parent plant, is a specialised feature of evolutionary and biological importance that ensures survival of a plant. Reports on vivipary in angiosperms are rare, accounting for <0.1% of flowering plants. Here, we report a remarkable case of occurrence of vivipary in Ophiorrhiza mungos. A study was conducted to collect information on the morphology of the capsules that support vivipary, environmental factors that induce vivipary, survival mode and the survival of viviparous seedlings. The hydroscopic movement of the cup-shaped capsules of O. mungos was found to help in viviparous germination during the rainy season. Of the total seeds in a capsule, 70% showed viviparous germination. The seedlings remaining inside the capsule attain a height of 0.98 ± 0.4 cm and reach the ground when the capsule falls. On the ground, seedlings obtain easy anchorage to the substratum since they have already germinated. Vivipary appears to be an adaptation of O. mungos to the rainy season for ensuring viable offspring. This suggests that vivipary in this species might be artificially induced by continuous spraying with water to rescue seeds in all seasons for use in large-scale propagation to meet increasing market demand and conservation of this valuable anticancer medicinal herb.

Transcriptomic Insights into Mechanisms of Early Seed Maturation in the Garden Pea (Pisum sativum L.)

“…Raw reads were trimmed and quality-filtered using the bbduk.sh script from the BBMap package [39] v38. 16. To ensure that neither adapter sequences nor spurious reads would pass quality control, quality-trimming was performed on both read ends with an average quality equal to 20, k-mer size equal to 23, and minimal read length equal to 50.…”

“…A vivid example of precocious germination is the aforementioned recalcitrant seeds found in plants dwelling in humid environments, including some tropical legumes [5]. In its extreme variant, also called viviparity, precociously germinating seeds sprout while still residing in maternal fruits [16]. In plants bearing orthodox seeds, viviparity is found in desiccation-intolerant mutants [17][18][19].…”

METHYLTRANSFERASE1 and Ripening Modulate Vivipary during Tomato Fruit Development

“…However, under certain physiological conditions, seed can germinate within fruits, a phenomenon called vivipary (VP). VP has evolutionary and ecological advantages for some plant species in surviving extreme environments (Eyster, 1931;Dintu et al, 2015). However, in the form of preharvest sprouting, VP can substantially reduce yield and product quality in vegetables, grain, and fruit crops, thus posing a threat to global food security (Gubler et al, 2005;Shu et al, 2016b).…”

Ophiorrhiza macrocarpa (Rubiaceae), a new viviparous species from Yunnan, southwestern China

“…In Ophiorrhiza, so far, only two other species, viz. O. mungos in India (Dintu et al 2014) and O. tomentosa in Singapore (Tan and Rao 1981) have been previously reported to exhibit vivipary., Vivipary is a unique feature of evolutionary and biological importance that ensures survival of a plant. It has long been recognized as one of the most important adaptive features to survival in harsh and complex environmental conditions.…”

“…It has long been recognized as one of the most important adaptive features to survival in harsh and complex environmental conditions. This rare phenomenon has been reported from less than 100 species of angiosperms and is mostly manifested in mangrove plants in tropical and subtropical intertidal zones, being found in the families Myrsinaceae (Aegiceras), Rhizophoraceae (Bruguiera, Ceriops and Rhizophora) and Acanthaceae (Avicennia) (Elmqvist and Cox 1996, Dintu et al 2014, Zhou et al 2016. Most plants of Ophiorrhiza are generally growing at wet places or streamside under evergreen forests.…”