Fig. 3: The pseudonectary development.

Pseudonectaries at various developmental stages under SEM (a–e, k–m), with their corresponding transverse semi-thin sections being shown in (f–j, n–p). Scale bars: 100 μm. Comparisons of cell layer (q) and cell width (r) between the pseudonectary and lobe areas of petals at different stages. Bars indicate the mean values. The asterisks indicate the significant difference between adjacent stages by two-side Wilcoxon rank sum test (P < 0.001). The exact P values were listed in the Source Data. In q, n = 10 for S5, n = 19 for S6, n = 14 for S7, n = 16 for S8, n = 18 for S9, n = 10 for S10, n = 18 for S11, and n = 37 for S12; In r, n = 24 cells for S5, n = 42 cells for S6, n = 15 cells for S7, n = 33 cells for S8, n = 39 cells for S9, n = 30 cells for S10, n = 54 cells for S11, and n = 120 cells for S12. Source data for q and r are provided as a Source Data file. s Schematic of the pseudonectary development. The three-dimensional shapes and their corresponding transverse sections at S6, S7, S9, and S12 are shown, respectively. Heatmap is plotted denoting the relative growth rates. For a–p, the experiments were repeated four times independently with similar results.