| Abstract Detail
Developmental and Structural Section Grose, Susan O. [1], Olmstead, Richard [1], Endress, Peter K. [2]. Evolution of mammal-dispersed fruits: Fruit anatomy and morphology of Crescentieae (Bignoniaceae). Crescentieae are a group of Bignoniaceae endemic to Central America and the Antilles. They are distinctive in the region for having cauliflorous inflorescences and indehiscent fruits that in some species are unilocular and in others are bilocular This fruit morphology is consistent with mammal dispersal and has evolved in two other lineages in the family, the African genus Kigelia and Coleeae, a tribe endemic to the Malagasy Islands. This study examines the ovary and fruit morphology of Crescentieae to decipher how indehiscence and unilocularity evolved in this tribe, and begin to understand how mammal dispersal evolved in Bignoniaceae. Unilocularity is derived through a reduction in growth of the synascidiate zone of the ovary and a reciprocal increase in the percentage of the ovary formed by the symplicate zone, but lack of septum formation by postgenital fusion of the carpel flanks. This change was also associated with a change in the vascular pattern. Indehiscence is correlated with a change in size and distribution of the vascular bundles and the presence of one or two continuous layers of sclerified cells in the fruit wall. Log in to add this item to your schedule
1 - University of Washington, Department of Biology, Po Box 35-1800, Seattle, Washington, 98195-1800, USA 2 - University of Zurich, Institute of Systematic Botany, Zollikerstrasse-107, Zurich, CH-8008, Switzerland
Keywords: Bignoniaceae Crescentia Amphitenca Parmentiera Fruit evolution.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections Session: 33 Location: 215/SUB Date: Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 Time: 8:30 AM Number: 33003 Abstract ID:159 |