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First published online May 28, 2009; doi:10.3732/ajb.0800344 American Journal of Botany 96: 1236-1244 (2009) © 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

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Floral organogenesis and the developmental basis for pollinator deception in the asiatic dayflower, Commelina communis (Commelinaceae)¹

² James C. Parks Herbarium, Department of Biology, Millersville University, P.O. Box 1002, Millersville, Pennsylvania 17551-0302 USA ³ Department of Botany, MRC-166, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012 Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 USA

ABSTRACT

The upper half of flowers in Commelina communis deceptively lures potential pollinators with its showy petals and staminodes on the false promise of abundant pollen. This paper presents evidence that staminodization in the upper half is associated with a severe retardation of the entire upper floral hemisphere early in development. Possible consequences of this developmental retardation are seen also in the gynoecium, where the upper carpel of the three-carpellate ovary is underdeveloped and sterile at maturity. Only late in development do the upper petals and staminodes expand and acquire pigments necessary for their attractive function. We surmise that retardations of this severity are unlikely to be found for functionally fertile organs such as stamens and ovule-producing carpels, because key preparatory events preceding sporogenesis might otherwise be disrupted. Such differential growth about the floral apex resembles that known in some eudicots to be regulated by the TCP gene family; thus, future molecular developmental studies in Commelina may help to extend our understanding of the evolutionary genetics of floral monosymmetry to monocots.

Key Words: Commelina • Commelinaceae • congenital fusion of sepals • dayflower • floral development • floral monosymmetry • pollinator deception • staminode development • staminodization • TCP gene family

Received for publication 10 October 2008. Accepted for publication 23 February 2009.

FOOTNOTES

¹ This work was based on the undergraduate biology honors thesis of L.S., who gratefully acknowledges the support of the Millersville University Department of Biology and a Catherine Keever Grant, D. Dobbins for assistance with scanning electron microscopy and helpful advice, R. Byrne and A. Cuthbert for helpful critique, A. Faden for acquainting her with Commelina at the Smithsonian greenhouses, and D. Stevenson for sharing his large collection of pickled C. communis. M. Endress, A. Litt, an anonymous reviewer, and AJB editors provided very helpful critique of an earlier version of this manuscript.

⁴ Author for correspondence (e-mail: christopher.hardy{at}millersville.edu)

⁵ Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0088 USA

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