Publication Type:Journal Article
Year of Publication:1993
Authors:Posluszny, U., Charlton W. A.
Journal:Aquatic BotanyAquatic Botany
Volume:44
Pagination:303-324
Abstract:

We propose a hypothesis for the derivation of flowers and reproductive structures in the Alismatidae (Helobiae) which is based on evolution of features of 'flower' and 'inflorescence' in different ways from an ancestral pre-floral condition with a multiaxial reproductive structure. We base this proposition on the existence of many cases of structures with attributes of both 'flower' and 'inflorescence'. In one suite of cases the lateral axes appear to have become flower-like while the main axis has become an inflorescence axis; in another the axes have become inflorescence-like proximally and flower-like distally. Like other evolutionary plans, it can also be read in the reverse direction, and would then imply that features of 'flower' and 'inflorescence' had become re-partitioned in different ways in the group. We interpret as reduced the simpler forms of flower among the group.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith