We studied gland morphology, anatomy and the chemical composition of the floral fragrance in the sweat bee-pollinated orchid Cyclopogon elatus. This is apparently the first such analysis for any Cyclopogon species, and one of very few studies in which both odour and osmophore are characterised in a nectar-rewarding orchid. Structures responsible for floral scent production were localised with n...

Miscanthus sacchariflorus is a fast-growing C(4) perennial grass that can naturally hybridize with M. sinensis to produce interspecific hybrids, such as the sterile triploid M.× giganteus. The creation of such hybrids is essential for the rapid domestication of this novel bioenergy crop. However, progress has been hindered by poor understanding of the environmental cues promoting floral transit...

Basic questions regarding the origin and evolution of grass (Poaceae) inflorescence morphology remain unresolved, including the developmental genetic basis for evolution of the highly derived outer spikelet organs. To evaluate homologies between the outer sterile organs of grass spikelets and inflorescence structures of nongrass monocot flowers, we describe expression patterns of APETALA1/FRUIT...

Sector boundary analysis has been used to deduce the number and orientation of cells initiating flower and floral organ development in Arabidopsis thaliana. Sectors were produced in transgenic plants carrying the Ac transposon from maize inserted between the constitutive 35S promoter and the GUS reporter gene. Excision of the transposon results in a blue-staining sector. Plants were chosen in w...

In the last two decades the genetic and molecular research on floral development has advanced tremendously. Initially the research focused mostly on the two species of which the homeotic floral development mutants formed the basis for the ABC‐model: Arabidopsis and Antirrhinum. In recent years the importance of studying a wider range of species, especially in an ‘‘evo‐devo’’ context, has become...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Ranunculaceae presents both ancestral and derived floral traits for eudicots, and as such is of potential interest to understand key steps involved in the evolution of zygomorphy in eudicots. Zygomorphy evolved once in Ranunculaceae, in the speciose and derived tribe Delphinieae. This tribe consists of two genera (Aconitum and Delphinium s.l.) comprising more than one-quarte...

Insects use several senses to forage, detecting floral cues such as color, shape, pattern, and volatiles. We report a formerly unappreciated sensory modality in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris), detection of floral electric fields. These fields act as floral cues, which are affected by the visit of naturally charged bees. Like visual cues, floral electric fields exhibit variations in pattern and ...