MORPHO-ANATOMY OF FRUITS AND SEEDS OF V. guianensis 147 MORPHOLOGY AND ANATOMY OF DEVELOPING FRUITS AND SEEDS OF Vismia guianensis (AUBL.) CHOISY (CLUSIACEAE)

Morphological, structural and developmental features of fruits and seeds of Vismia guianensis (Aubl.) Choisy. are here presented, with the purpose to elucidate their structure and to contribute to taxo-nomical and ecological studies of the family. The fruit is a berry and the “rind ” is constituted by the exocarp and by the subepidermal layers which constitute the mesocarp. The reddish pulp, rich in starch, is constituted by the parenchymatic mesocarp, with branched secretory ducts and vascular bundles, joined with the endocarp, which arises from a ventral meristem. The bitegmic, anatropous ovules, provided by the endothelium, develop into anatropous, bitegmic and exalbuminous seeds. The red-dish uniseriate testa shows phenolic contents. The tegmen becomes crushed resting only the uniseriate exotegmen with undulate, thick walled and lignified cells, which contain a number of calcium ox-alate prismatic crystals. The embryo, rich in lipids, is straight and shows foliaceous cotyledons