KORN, ROBERT W. Biology Department, Bellarmine University, 2001 Newburg Rd., Louisville, KY 40205. - The origin of stomatal clusters in Begonia bracteosa.
The number of stomata in clusters of Begonia bracteosa ranges
from one to ten with an average of 3.78 and its distribution follows a
Poisson process as analyzed by the chi square test with a P value
greater than 25%. Each stomatal cluster comes from a single cell with
the number of stomata in a cluster directly related to the size of the
cell at the time of specialization. The probability distribution
frequencies of epidermal cells cam be given as a complex equation that
can be simplified into a binomial distribution which, in turn, can be
restated as a Poison distribution. This set of mathematical
transformations parallels the changes in developmental features from
epidermal cells to stomatal clusters.
Key words: begonia, development, stomata