Abstract: Investigated in the present work were development of microspores and formation Of male gametes in Paeonia jishanensis T．Hong et W．Z．Zhao)．Its anthers are 4-sporran giate；structure of anther wall is of the Dicotyledonous type，with glandular tapetum；cy tokinesis at meiosis of microspore mother cells is simultaneous；tetrads are mostly tetrahe dral，less frequently isobilateral，and mature pollen grains are 2-celled． The overall observa tion on formation of microspores and development of male gametes made in this work is the first for woody peonies．In addition，we observed in the present work abnormal phenomena at meiosis of microspore mother cells and uninucleate microspores，and also made measure ments of fertility of pollen grains．The results show that their fertility ranges from 45.0％ to 84.2％ and varies among flowers，among anthers in a flower and among microsporangia in an anther． The abnormal processes found in development of male gametes are not considered as an important factor responsible for the endangerment of the species．

Key words: Paeonia jishanensis, Male gametes, Abnormality