Abstract: Embryo development of Zhangqiu green onion conforms to the Asterad type and goes through the following stages: proembryo, globular, ellipsoidal, laterally concave, stick-shaped, and curved and mature. The persistent synergid is present until the late globular stage of embryogenesis. Endosperm development of Zhangqiu green onion follows the nuclear pattern. Endosperm cell formation begins at both the micropylar end and the chalazai end of the embryo sac when the embryo is in the late globular stage. Due to the anticlinal wall formation, a layer of free nuclei becomes a layer of “open cells” which lack the inner periclinat wall. The open cells undergo cell division periclinally, and a layer of complete cells is cut off outside and a new layer of open cells inside. The subsequent cell divisions give rise to the endosperm cells centripetally until those from the opposite of the embryo sac meet. The first anticlinal walls arise from the cell plates without phragmoplasts between the free nuclei in interphase. The first periclinal walls are formed by normal cytokinesis. When a few layers of endosperm cells are formed at the micropylar end and the chalazal end of the embryo sac, free cells are present in the central vacuole.

Key words: Allium fistulosum L., Embryo, Free nucleus, Endosperm, cellularization