Studies on the, Comparative Physiology of Chara Australis 1. Growth Pattern and Gross Cytology of the Internodal Oell

Abstract

The growth of the internodal cell and its parts appears to be allometric. Two growth phases are recognized, an exponential phase in the young cells followed by a linear phase during which the internode expands by up to 200 mm in length. In the exponential phase the cytoplasm to vacuole ratio declines from a very high value to about 0·04--0·06 and then remains constant throughout the linear phase. In the linear phase the structure of the protoplast, at the light.microscope level, is similar for all cells; a unit volume of the protoplast appears similar in cells from 10 to 200 rum in length.