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Towards unlocking the deep nodes of Leguminosae: Floral development and morphology of the enigmatic Duparquetia orchidacea (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae)¹

² Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3DS, UK ³ Department of Botany, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK

ABSTRACT

Duparquetia orchidacea (Caesalpinioideae-Cassieae-Duparquetiinae) is a monotypic liana from tropical West Africa. Its highly unusual, zygomorphic flowers, the unique pollen morphology, and the lack of vestured pits in the wood correspond with previous phylogenetic studies that resolved the position of the species to an isolated position among the early-branching Leguminosae. Here we present a detailed analysis of floral morphology and development to clarify open questions of its floral organization. We provide new data that can be useful in clarifying phylogenetic relationships among early branching Leguminosae and improve our understanding of floral evolution in this large and important plant family. For comparison, we also present developmental data for other Fabales. Our analysis reveals some unusual and in parts unique developmental patterns, such as strict acropetal organ formation, loss and suppression of floral organs, and early petal enlargement. We interpret alternating left-right symmetries in floral development as clues to a spiral organ formation in ancestral taxa. Early asymmetry of the young carpel helps to interpret enantiostyly of other Leguminosae as an example of imprinted shape. Finally, we show that cochlear-descending petal aestivation in Duparquetia and in Papilionoideae is based on different ontogenetic patterns and therefore is most probably nonhomologous.

Key Words: Caesalpinioideae • Duparquetia • enantiostyly • evolution • Fabaceae • Fabales • floral development • flower • Leguminosae • morphology

Received for publication 17 June 2008. Accepted for publication 11 September 2008.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The authors thank D. Kirkup and X. van der Burgt for making their beautiful photos available to us, W. Hawthorne and X. van der Burgt for collecting Duparquetia in the field; A. Bruneau, G. Lewis, P. Rudall, and D. Sokoloff for fruitful discussions; P. Herendeen and L. Ronse de Craene for valuable comments in their reviews. B.K. is grateful to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K) and the Natural History Museum in Paris (P) for making typus material available on loan to the NHM and for financial support from National Science Foundation grant no. DEB-0316375. G.P. thanks M. Cheek for the opportunity to join a fieldtrip to Cameroon, during which material was collected, J.-P. Ghogue for assistance in the field, and the Austrian Science Fund for financial support (FWF, project J2504).

⁴ Author for correspondence (e-mail: g.prenner{at}kew.org)