ALLOMETRY IN THE HISTOGENESIS OF PRUNUS FRUITS (ROSACEAE)

The authors have analyzed the relative growth of the various tissues o f the fruits of two species of Prunus during their development: Prunus serotina Ehrh. and Prunus virginiana L. The results show that tissue development is allometric before the complete formation of the embryo. Once the embryo is formed, a statistical correlation no longer prevai ls between the metric increase in diameter of the various tissues. The se results indicate that the development of the fruit wall of Prunus p roceeds in two periods. The first period, before the development of th e embryo is completed, constitutes a morphogenetic period during which the various tissues differentiate. The relationship between the inner endocarp and the outer endocarp is linear contrary to that of the mes ocarp and the total endocarp, which is non linear. The allometric anal ysis shows that the endocarp grows more rapidly with respect to the me socarp in P. virginiana than in P. serotina.