Stomatal Development in Etiolated Vicia faba: Relationship Between Structure and Function

Abstract

In V. faba plants grown in the dark, the following pattern of stomatal development was observed: (1) stomatal differentiation occurs simultaneously on all areas of the young leaf; (2) at a certain point (about 10 days of growth in the dark) differentiation ceases but maturation of stomata continues; (3) there is no difference in the pattern or time of development of stomata on the outermost or innermost leaf of the leaf group; (4) plastids of mature dark-grown stomata contain starch but plastids of immature stomata do not.

When plants of different ages are brought from the dark into the light, stomata of older plants achieve physiological competence in a shorter time than do stomata of younger plants.