An increasingly robust phylogenetic framework based on molecular and fossil data clarifies
the sequence of evolutionary innovations in land plants. Oogamy and cellular novelties …

Inferring directions of character transformation during angiosperm evolution is widely
appreciated as one of the most important goals of systematic botany, offering the potential to …

The petals of rose (Rosa sp.) flowers determine the ornamental and industrial worth of this
species. The number of petals in roses was previously shown to be subject to fluctuations in …

The origin and rapid diversification of the angiosperms (Darwin's “Abominable Mystery”) has
engaged generations of researchers. Here, we examine the floral genetic programs of …

Transitions from wind pollination to insect pollination were pivotal to the radiation of land
plants, yet only a handful are known and the trait shifts required are poorly understood. We …

Background and aims–The term'petal'is loosely applied to a variety of showy non-
homologous structures, generally situated in the second whorl of a differentiated perianth …

Epimedium and Plagiorhegma are the representatives of two early-diverging clades in
Podophylloideae of Berberidaceae. Flowers are dimerous and trimerous respectively, but …

Almost all angiosperms are angiospermous, ie the ovules are enclosed in carpels at
anthesis and during seed development, but angiospermy develops in different ways across …

Evolutionary innovations are important drivers of speciation and some are the defining
characters of entire phyla. One such major innovation is the carpel, the unifying character …

Abstract Morphological variation in Ephedra (Gnetales) is limited and confusing from an
evolutionary perspective, with parallelisms and intraspecific variation. However, recent …