Morphogenesis in Aseptic Cell Cultures of Cymbidium

Abstract

Aseptic cultures of orchid embryos have long been familiar; propagation of orchids in proliferated meristem explants is also now familiar. The methods of free cell culture in liquid media-developed for other plants-have been applied to Cymbidium. In response to the appropriate chemical signals delivered sequentially and synergistically via the ambient medium, the free somatic cells grow and organize; significantly, they recapitulate normal embryogenesis as they give rise, under the appropriate conditions, to minute green protocorms from which plants may be reared. The results are discussed in relation to other similar examples of clonal propagation of plants from cultured free cells.