Аннотация:With the current reassessment of Hamamelidaceae phylogeny the problem of revealing the apomorphies and plesiomorphies within this group arises and peculiarities of histogenesis of the reproductive structures deserve recognition. With the aim to fill in the gap in the data on fruit structure of Hamamelidaceae the work was focused on the investigation of the processes of the fruit organogenesis and histogenesis of fruit wall in the genus Loropetalum. The fruit of Loropetalum chinense is an almost inferior dimerous syncarpous loculicidal (dorsoventrally dehiscent) capsule with the mature fruit wall differentiated into epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp. The main tissue of the epicarp and the peripheral zone of the mesocarp are composed by thin-walled cells with scattered brachysclereids, whereas the inner zone of the mesocarp consists of fiber-like sclereids. The endocarp finishes its differentiation at the young fruit stage and is represented in mature fruit by several layers of thin-walled cells. The fruit of L. chinense represents the capsule of Forsythia type which was not earlier described for Hamamelidaceae and differs from the capsules of Hamamelis type described for Hamamelis, Corylopsis and Fothergilla. The revealed characters of L. chinense fruits indicate the possibility of transformation of the explosive capsule into a pyrenarium.
