Identification of long needle crystals and distribution of oxalate salts in Narcissus cv. ‘Garden Giant’

Abstract

Long needle crystals abundantly present in the bulb scales and the shoot sap of Narcissus cv. ‘Garden Giant’ were identified as Ca-oxalate by ¹³C-nuclear magnetic resonance and capillary electrophoresis. The Ca-oxalate crystals were distributed in every part of the plant, including tunics, shoot, flowers, basalplate, and roots. A large proportion of water-soluble oxalate was present in the roots, but not in the scales and shoot. Oxalate accumulation occurred mainly in the young new scales originating from the basal part of shoot. Most of all the oxalate in the inner new scales and the outer old scales was in the form of Ca-oxalate. The fact that Ca and oxalate contents in old scales remained constant after planting to the flowering stage indicated that Ca and oxalate in bulb scales are not reserve nutrients supporting plant growth. Alternatively Ca-oxalate accumulated in scales appeared to be a stable end-product.

Key Words:

• calcium
• capillary electrophoresis
• Narcissus
• NMR
• oxalate