Leaves from three_year_old solar greenhouse nectarine trees ( Prunus persica L. var. nectarina Ait. “Zao Hong Yan”) were used as materials in this study. It was the first time that the ultrastructural characteristics of phloem tissues of source leaves were observed and compared in normal and weak light intensities using the transmission electron microscopy. Results showed that the average diameters of companion cells (CC) and sieve elements (SE) of all kinds of veins were bigger in normal than that in weak light intensity, indicating that light could influence the cell development and growth. Dense cytoplasm with abundant mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulums, multivesicular bodies, vesicles and plastids were observed in normal light intensity. On the contrary, CC with small vacuolar structures and few mitochondrias, endoplasmic reticulums were shown in weak light. Misalignment of grana thylakoid margins of nectarine leaves also was seen in weak light. The sieve pores of SEs were obstructed in weak light. Chloroplasts with numerous starch grains and few mitochondrias were noticed in the mesophyll cell (MES) surrounding the bundle sheath in weak light. The storage of starch grains appeared to result from an unbalance between photosynthate production and export of photosynthates. This observation provided a strong support to the point that most leaves export the most of assimilates in the light time. Plasmodesmal densities between SE/CC, CC/PP (phloem parenchyma cell), PP/PP and PP/BSC (bundle_sheath cell) decreased in weak light. Plasmodesmata were observed between CC/SE (NS) (nacreous_walled sieve element), PP/BSC in branch veins in normal light intensity, but not in weak light. Thus apoplasmic pathway may be the main mode of transport of assimilates in weak light, however symplasmic pathway may be the main mode of transport of assimilates in normal light intensity. These results demonstrated that the solar greenhouse nectarine trees could be adapted to the weak light via the ultrastructure variation of
