Colleters are secretory structures involved in the protection of young and developing plant organs. Although the presence of colleters in Gentianales is described as a synapomorphy, studies on the morphofunctionality of colleters and the mechanisms underlying the synthesis and release of colleter secretion in Gentianaceae are scarce. Here, we described the ontogeny and the morphological and functional aspects of colleters of Prepusa montana, revealed the nature of the key compounds present in the secretion, and explored the cellular aspects of the synthesis and release of secretion and senescence of colleters. Samples of the stem apical meristem with leaf primordium and young leaves; adult and senescent leaves were observed using light and electron microscopy. The colleters, located in the axil of the leaf, have a protodermal origin and develop asynchronously. They are digitiform, possessing a short peduncle and a secretory head containing homogeneous cells with dense cytoplasm and abundant endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi bodies. The secretion, composed of polysaccharides and proteins, is accumulated in schizogenous spaces and released through the separation of peripheral secretory cells and loosening of the external periclinal wall. Presumably, senescence is caused by programmed cell death. The morphoanatomical characterization of P. montana leaf colleters described here is the first record for the genus and the peculiar accumulation of colleter secretion in schizogenous spaces expanding our knowledge on the diversity of these secretory structures. Our results also provide insights into programmed cell death as an eminent topic related to secretory structures.

收集器是参与保护年轻和发育中的植物器官的分泌结构。尽管龙胆目中收集器的存在被描述为一种突触，但关于收集器的形态功能性以及龙胆科收集器分泌物合成和释放的机制的研究很少。在这里，我们描述了Prepusa montana的个体发育以及收集器的形态和功能方面，揭示了分泌物中存在的关键化合物的性质，并探讨了分泌物的合成和释放以及收集器衰老的细胞方面。具有叶原基和幼叶的茎顶端分生组织样品；使用光学和电子显微镜观察成年和衰老的叶子。位于叶腋的收集器具有原皮起源并且不同步地发育。它们是指状的，有一个短的花序梗和一个分泌头，含有均匀的细胞，细胞质致密，内质网和高尔基体丰富。由多糖和蛋白质组成的分泌物在分裂空间中积累，并通过外周分泌细胞的分离和外周壁的松动而释放。想必，衰老是由程序性细胞死亡引起的。形态解剖学特征这里描述的P. montana叶收集器是该属的第一个记录，并且在分裂空间中收集器分泌的特殊积累扩展了我们对这些分泌结构多样性的了解。我们的研究结果还提供了对程序性细胞死亡作为与分泌结构相关的重要主题的见解。