Participation of Male Cytoplasm During Gamete Fusion in an Angiosperm, Plumbago zeylanica.

The embryo sac of Plumbago, lacking synergids, reveals an alternative course for pollen tube growth in angiosperms and provides ultrastructural evidence for transmission of sperm cytoplasm into the zygote and endosperm. Study of such evolutionarily reduced female gametophytes may aid in elucidating the structural basis for genetic transmission of plastids and mitochondria in flowering plants.