Fig 1.
Copernicia alba Morong ex Morong & Britton (Arecaceae, caranda): Plant habit, fruit and seeds morphology.
a. plant habit in a carandazal formation; b. branches with unripe fruits; c. Ripe fruits; d. Ripe fruits and variations in seed morphology (1- fusiform; type 2- spherical; type 3- ellipsoid; type 4- ovoid; 1th. to 4th columns. Fruit after removal of pericarp (5th column). Seed exposed after extraction of seed coat (6th to 8th column).
Fig 2.
Biplot with the dimensions 1 and 2 of PCA by correlation capturing 60.8% of the original variability.
The ellipses show a separation in the multivariate space of different Copernicia alba phenotypes concerning morphometric and mass variables.
Fig 3.
Yield of fresh masses of (a) exocarp, (b) mesocarp, (c) endocarp, and (d) endosperm of Copernicia alba fruits concerning phenotypes.
Red dots after the mean and standard deviation represent the empirical data. The gray area is the density of the points distribution. Different letters for factor levels represent significant mean difference under Tukey’s test.
Fig 4.
Differences in (a) diameter, and (b) infolding depth and (c) number in ruminate seeds of Copernicia alba (Arecaceae) by function of different fruit types.
Red dots after the mean and standard deviation represent the empirical data. The gray area is the density of the points distribution. Different letters for factor levels represent significant mean difference under Tukey’s test.
Fig 5.
Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) of hydrolysis products using 1% (w/ v) of Copernicia alba seed and birchwood xylan substrate upon reaction with endo-xylanase from A. japonicus.
Line 1: xylose 1 mg/mL; Line 2: xylobiose 1 mg/mL, Lines 3–4: hydrolysis products using xylanase after 30 and 60 min of incubation, using Copernicia alba seed, Lines 5–6: hydrolysis products using xylanase after 30 and 60 min of incubation, using birchwood xylan.
Fig 6.
General anatomical features of Copernicia alba (Arecaceae) mature fruit and seed in cross section.
(A) General view showing exocarp (ex), mesocarp (mes) with parenchyma and esclerechyma layers interspersed, endocarp (end) and vascular bundle (vb), and seed coat (sd) (mep). (B) Detail of pericarp: parenchyma (pa) and sclerenchyma (es) layers. In the parechyma tissue observe the phenolic idioblasts (phi). (C) Detail of parenchyma internal part with phenolic idioblast (phi) and vascular bundle (vb). (D) Internal layer of pericarp and part of seed coat (sc) structure: observe the seed coat forming projection (arrow) into seed reserve (sd). E. Detail of multilayered seed coat (sc) and cells of seed reserve (sr). Histochemical reactions in seed coat (sc)and reserve endosperm (sr): (F) Ferric chloride to identify phenolic compounds (white arrow); (G) Thick primary cell walls stained pink after reaction with Schiff/PAS reagent to identify neutral polysaccharides (arrow heads); (H-I) Cell content after reaction with Sudan IV showing lipidic granules in orange (arrow); (J) Cell content after reaction with Blue bromophenol to identifying proteins (arrows).
Fig 7.
Seeds of Copernicia alba (Arecaceae) in cross section (a-d) showing tegument with infoldings (arrow) and endosperm (white star) in each type. Seeds in longitudinal section (e-h): tegument, endosperm and embryo (arrow head). Scale bars: 1 cm.