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Developmental morphology of branching flowers in Nymphaea prolifera

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Abstract

Nymphaea and Nuphar (Nymphaeaceae) share an extra-axillary mode of floral inception in the shoot apical meristem (SAM). Some leaf sites along the ontogenetic spiral are occupied by floral primordia lacking a subtending bract. This pattern of flower initiation in leaf sites is repeated inside branching flowers of Nymphaea prolifera (Central and South America). Instead of fertile flowers this species usually produces sterile tuberiferous flowers that act as vegetative propagules. N. prolifera changes the meristem identity from reproductive to vegetative or vice versa repeatedly. Each branching flower first produces some perianth-like leaves, then it switches back to the vegetative meristem identity of the SAM with the formation of foliage leaves and another set of branching flowers. This process is repeated up to three times giving rise to more than 100 vegetative propagules. The developmental morphology of the branching flowers of N. prolifera is described using both microtome sections and scanning electron microscopy.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Theissen (Jena) and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the manuscript. The last two authors also wish to thank Biol. J. C. Romero (Director of the Reserva de la Biosphera “Pantanos de Centla,” Estado de Tabasco, Mexico) for permission to collect plant material. The technical assistance (scanning electron microscopy) of U. Jauch (Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich) is gratefully acknowledged. This paper is part of a research project supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant no. 3100AO-105974/1). We dedicate this publication to Matthias Wolf (†), an inspiring young biologist and lover of water lilies. He provided the SEM graphs for N. alba (Fig. 5).

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  1. Institut für Systematische Botanik, Universität Zürich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland

    Valentin Grob, Philip Moline, Evelin Pfeifer & Rolf Rutishauser

  2. Departamento de Botánica, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico, D.F., 04510, Mexico

    Alejandro R. Novelo

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  1. Valentin Grob
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Correspondence to Rolf Rutishauser.

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Grob, V., Moline, P., Pfeifer, E. et al. Developmental morphology of branching flowers in Nymphaea prolifera . J Plant Res 119, 561–570 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-006-0021-8

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