Abstract: It was found that the different development of generative and vegetative cells in Polygonatum simizui Kitag attributed to the polar distribution of plastids, in the microspore cytoplasm prior to mitosis, consequently the generative cell contained no plastids while the vegetative cell received all the plastids. During the development of the generative cell up to mature pollen stage and the formation of two sperm cells in the pollen tube, there were no plastids in their cytoplasm. Although mitochondria were present both in the generative and sperm cells, no DNA nucleoids were detected in their cytoplasm. Therefore the inheritance of plastids in Polygonatum simizui was catalogued as a uniparental maternal type. During male gametophyte development, evident change occurred in the plastids of the vegetative cytoplasm. In early stage, amyloplasts of the vegetative cytoplasm increased in number with active starch, which disappeared in late stage and were replaced by increasing lipid bodies. Thus when pollen grains approach to maturation they contain numerous oil drops. The different mechanism of plastid ellimination in Liliaceae and the transformation from starch grains to lipid bodies are discussed.

Key words: Plastid inheritance, Generative cell, Vegetative cell, Polygonatum simizui