Abstract: To understand the development mechanism of the epiphyllous bud of waterlily, we examined the morphological anatomy of the leaf-navel epiphyllous bud by paraffin section technique at four stages, and compared the differences of carbohydrate metabolism between viviparous and non-viviparous waterlily leaves. Three tropical waterlily cultivars of Brachyceras were used, including two viviparous cultivars Nymphaea ‘Margaret Mary’, Nymphaea ‘Ruby’, and a non-viviparous cultivar Nymphaea ‘Pink Star’. The results showed that parenchyma cells below the epidermis of leaf-navel divided and grew continuously after the leaf unfolded, forming a closely arranged cell cluster in viviparous waterlily and raised upward to a spherical shape. In contrast, no change was observed in leaf-navel of non-viviparous waterlily with the expansion of leaves. With the development of leaves, the contents of all physiological variables except sucrose and enzyme activities in the leaves of viviparous waterlily showed a first increase and then a decrease, which was significantly higher than those of non-viviparous waterlily. The carbohydrate contents in different parts showed the order of leaf > leaf-navel > petiole (except for starch content, which was highest in the leaf-navel). The activities of sucrose synthase (SS) and acid invertase (AI) were higher than those of sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) and neutral invertase (NI). The activities of SPS and NI in different tissues of viviparous waterlily were significantly higher than those in non-viviparous one, but SS and AI did not show pronounced cultivar advantage in viviparous cultivars. AI activity varied greatly among cultivars, whereas NI activity varied less and was at a low level in different tissues. The sucrose of Nymphaea ‘Ruby’ leaves was positively correlated with the SPS and AI, and significantly associated with NI. The accumulation of sucrose content increased the activities of SS and NI of waterlily leaves, which was conducive to promoting the formation of epiphyllous buds.

Key words: tropical waterlily, epiphyllous bud, morphological anatomy, carbohydrate, sucrose metabolic enzymes