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Floral development of Gonocaryum with emphasis on the gynoecium

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Abstract

We investigated the floral development of Gonocaryum, a genus of Cardiopteridaceae that was segregated from Icacinaceae s.l., using scanning electron microscopy to clarify its gynoecial structure and facilitate morphological comparisons of Cardiopteridaceae. The key floral developmental characters include sepal initiation that follows a quincuncial spiral sequence; petals that are valvate with inflexed tips and are postgenitally fused at the base; a petal and stamen initiation sequence that is almost simultaneous; a globular protuberance on top of the connective; a gynoecium that is tricarpellate and pseudomonomerous, with the stigma produced by one abaxial lateral carpel; and two ovules that are unitegmic and anatropous with an obturator on the funicle. The floral developmental characters of Gonocaryum are discussed relative to Cardiopteris, which has been well studied and whose gynoecial vasculature is reinterpreted here, and are briefly compared to other members of Aquifoliales and Icacinaceae s.l. The imbricate sepals, initiated in a quincuncial spiral sequence, and the tricarpellate, pseudomonomerous gynoecium are common characters of Cardiopteridaceae. Unisexual flowers are an autapomorphy of Gonocaryum in Cardiopteridaceae.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Zong-Xin Ren (Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Science, Kunming, China) for support of SEM technology. Funding for DRK’s research was provided by the Startup Foundation for Doctors of Ludong University (Grant No. 2015014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Science, Ludong University, Yantai, 264025, Shandong, China

    Dong-Rui Kong

  2. National Germplasm Research Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, 20705, USA

    Melanie Schori

  3. Yunnan Academy of Biodiversity, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China

    Lu Li

  4. Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650201, China

    Hua Peng

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  1. Dong-Rui Kong
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  2. Melanie Schori
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  4. Hua Peng
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Correspondence to Dong-Rui Kong.

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Handling editor: Peter K. Endress.

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Kong, DR., Schori, M., Li, L. et al. Floral development of Gonocaryum with emphasis on the gynoecium. Plant Syst Evol 304, 327–341 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-017-1479-7

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