ABSTRACT
Investigations of angiosperms dating to the 19th century showed that seeds could be produced without pollination and fertilization. J. Smith, an English scientist from the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, was the first to discover (in 1841) normally formed and viable seeds of a female specimen of the dioecious Australian plant Alchornea ilicifolia in the absence of male individuals. The first embryological studies of plants characterized by polyembryony were made by E. Strasburger. He called such embryos adventive embryos and the phenomenon as a whole adventive embryony. It was described by Strasburger using the following species: Funkia ovata, Alchornea ilicifolia, Citrus aurantium, Mangifera indica, Euonymus latifolia, Gymnadenia conopsea and Nothoscordum fragrans. This chapter provides a list of the angiosperm species characterized by nucellar and integumentary embryony on the basis of major relevant publications and research data. Further studies revealed the occurrence of adventive embryony in many representatives of flowering plants.
