Skip Navigation



AOBPreview published online on May 31, 2005
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mci174
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
96/2/209    most recent
mci174v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by ENDRESS, P. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by ENDRESS, P. K.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by ENDRESS, P. K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Received March 21, 2005
Revised April 7, 2005
Accepted April 20, 2005

Article

Carpels in Brasenia (Cabombaceae) are Completely Ascidiate Despite a Long Stigmatic Crest

PETER K. ENDRESS 1*

1 Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
PETER K. ENDRESS, E-mail: pendress{at}systbot.unizh.ch


  Abstract

• Background and Aims The morphological structure of anthetic carpels of Brasenia (Cabombaceae), a member of the phylogenetically basal ANITA grade, has not been studied before. The carpel has a long stigmatic crest on the ventral side and could give the impression of a conduplicate structure. This is in contrast to the carpel structure in other genera of the ANITA grade. Therefore, a study of carpel development and carpel structure at anthesis was carried out.

• Methods Carpels of Brasenia schreberi were studied at different developmental stages up to anthesis by means of microtome section series and SEM to analyse and reconstruct the outer and inner carpel morphology.

• Key Results Carpels of Brasenia are extremely ascidiate up to anthesis. The elongate stigma originates around the mouth of the young carpel, which is slightly curved toward the centre of the flower. Subsequently, the stigmatic zone below the mouth expands by massive intercalary elongation.

• Conclusions In their ascidiate shape, carpels of Brasenia are similar to carpels of Cabomba, the other genus of Cabombaceae, which, in contrast, has a short stigma restricted to the tip of the carpel. Thus, the morphological structure is independent of the extent (and one-sidedness) of the stigma. The outer shape of carpels at anthesis does not allow the inference of the inner morphological surface. If an angiosperm carpel has a one-sided stigma it can be extremely conduplicate or extremely ascidiate. Therefore, caution has to be used in the interpretion of the structure of fossil carpels.

Keywords: Brasenia, Cabomba, Cabombaceae, Nymphaeaceae, basal angiosperms, carpel structure.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Am. J. Bot.Home page
P. K. Endress and J. A. Doyle
Reconstructing the ancestral angiosperm flower and its initial specializations
Am. J. Botany, January 1, 2009; 96(1): 22 - 66.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Bot.Home page
P. S. Soltis, S. F. Brockington, M.-J. Yoo, A. Piedrahita, M. Latvis, M. J. Moore, A. S. Chanderbali, and D. E. Soltis
Floral variation and floral genetics in basal angiosperms
Am. J. Botany, January 1, 2009; 96(1): 110 - 128.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Bot.Home page
T. L. Sage, K. Hristova-Sarkovski, V. Koehl, J. Lyew, V. Pontieri, P. Bernhardt, P. Weston, S. Bagha, and G. Chiu
Transmitting tissue architecture in basal-relictual angiosperms: Implications for transmitting tissue origins
Am. J. Botany, January 1, 2009; 96(1): 183 - 206.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Bot.Home page
J. H. Williams
Amborella trichopoda (Amborellaceae) and the evolutionary developmental origins of the angiosperm progamic phase
Am. J. Botany, January 1, 2009; 96(1): 144 - 165.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Bot.Home page
P. J. Rudall, D. D. Sokoloff, M. V. Remizowa, J. G. Conran, J. I. Davis, T. D. Macfarlane, and D. W. Stevenson
Morphology of Hydatellaceae, an anomalous aquatic family recently recognized as an early-divergent angiosperm lineage
Am. J. Botany, July 1, 2007; 94(7): 1073 - 1092.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.