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First published online February 5, 2009; doi:10.3732/ajb.0800305 American Journal of Botany 96: 580-593 (2009) © 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc. |
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Anatomy and Morphology |
2 Department of Biology, P.O. Box 26170, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402-6170 USA 3 Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 USA 4 Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center Facility, North Carolina State University, 850 Oval Drive, Box 7928, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 USA
ABSTRACT
We present new comparative data on early floral development of Heliconia latispatha, an ecologically and horticulturally important tropical plant within the order Zingiberales. Modification of the six members of two androecial whorls is characteristic of Zingiberales, with a reduction in number of fertile stamen from five or six in the banana families (Musaceae, Strelitziaceae, Lowiaceae, and Heliconiaceae) to one in Costaceae and Zingiberaceae and one-half in Marantaceae and Cannaceae. The remaining five infertile stamens in these later four families (the ginger families) are petaloid, and in Costaceae and Zingiberaceae fuse together to form a novel structure, the labellum. Within this developmental sequence, Heliconiaceae share with the ginger families the possession of an antisepalous staminode, a synapomorphy that has been used to place Heliconiaceae as sister to the ginger family clade. Here, we use epi-illumination light microscopy and reconstruction of serial sections to investigate the ontogeny of the Heliconia flower with emphasis on the ontogeny of the staminode. We compare floral development in Heliconia with that previously described for other species of Zingiberales. A comparison of floral structure and development across Zingiberales is presented to better understand the evolution of the flower in this charismatic group of tropical plants.
Key Words: floral development • floral evolution • Heliconia latispatha • heterochrony • morphology • nectaries • oblique zygomorphy • Zingiberales
Received for publication 9 September 2008. Accepted for publication 4 November 2008.
FOOTNOTES
1 The authors thank the staff of Waimea Arboretum, Oahu, HI; Fairchild Tropical Garden (FTG), Miami, FL; and the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley for assisting in the collection material for study. They also thank C. Eastman for taking many of the epi-illumination micrographs; S. Sridaran and C. Johnson for help in gathering data and preparing an early version of the manuscript; and C. Johnson for preparing initial copies of the plates that were useful in our final interpretations. D. Schichnes provided support and advice for microtechnique and imaging through the College of Natural Resources BioImaging Facility at UC Berkeley. Funding for this work was provided by the NSF-funded MORPH Research Coordination Network, the UC Berkeley Committee on Research, the UCB College of Natural Resource’s Sponsored Projects for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) program, and a Nathan and Violet David Scholars Program fellowship to L.P.L.
5 Author for correspondence (e-mail: cdspecht{at}nature.berkeley.edu)
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