Abstract: The development of the tapetum in Ophiopogon ]aponicus is of secretory type Tapetum develops at their peak during the microspore mother cell stage. There are abundant organelles, consisting of a lot of mitochondria, dictyosomes and plastids, especially endoplasmic reticulum. Pro-Ubisch bodies e. merge as early as at the stage of microspore mother cell. At tetrad stage, a large number of pro-Ubisch bodies accumulate between inner tangential face of the plasmalemma and the cell wall. At the early microspore stage, pro-Ubisch bodies are distributed in the small embayments of the plasmalemma. As the sporopollenin begins to deposit on them, proubisch bodies develop into Ubisch bodies which consist of two types: single and aggregated. Tapetal cells degenerate completely when pollen grains reach maturity.

Key words: Ophiopogon japonicus, Tapetum, Ubisch bodies