Papers in the Biological Sciences
Date of this Version
8-1967
Citation
American Journal of Botany (August 1967) 54(7): 914-920.
Also available at https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1967.tb10715.x.
Abstract
The development of the bisexual flower of Lophotocarpus calycinus and of the unisexual flowers of Sagittaria latifolia has been observed. In all cases floral organs arise in acropetal succession. In L. calycinus, after initiation of the perianth, the first whorl of stamens to form consists of six stamens and is ordinarily followed by two alternating whorls of six stamens each. The very numerous carpels are initiated spirally. In the male flower of S. latifolia the androecium develops in spiral order. A few rudimentary carpels appear near the floral apex after initiation of the stamens. There are no staminodia. The female flower has a similar developmental pattern to that of Lophotocarpus except that a prominent residual floral apex is left bare of carpels. The vascular system in all flowers is semiopen, with vascular bundles passing to the floral organs in a pattern unrelated to the relative positions of those organs. The androecia of these two taxa are similar to those of some Butomaceae and relationships based on ontogeny and morphology are suggested. The gynoecia are meristically less specialized but morphologically more specialized than the gynoecia of Butomaceae.
Comments
Copyright 1967, Wiley. Used by permission.