The taxonomic value of floral characters in Rapateaceae (Poales-Monocotyledons)

The floral anatomy of Cephalostemon, Monotrema, Rapatea, Spathanthus, and Stegolepis was studied for taxonomic purposes. All species studied share colleters between the floral parts; sepals, petals, anthers, and style covered by an ornamented cuticle; short epidermal cells with sinuous walls on the abaxial surface of the petals; tetrasporangiate anthers with phenolic idioblasts in the epidermis; endothecium with spiral thickenings; incompletely septate ovary; and anatropous, bitegmic ovules. The floral anatomy is useful not only for characterizing the family, but also for delimiting the subfamilies and genera. Sepals with silica bodies in the epidermal cells; mature anther wall composed of epidermis, endothecium, and middle layer; absence of phenolic idioblasts in the sepals, filaments, and ovary; and stylar epidermal cells with thickened external periclinal wall support Rapateoideae. Cephalostemon and Rapatea show a great number of similarities, corroborating their close relationship indicated in the phylogenetic analyses of the family. Monotrema shares few characters with the genera of Rapateoideae, corroborating its placement in Monotremoideae. Stegolepis shows several distinctive characters, probably related to the greater diversity found in this genus. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Wien.

Anatomia floral de espécies de Eriocaulaceae e de Cephalostemon riedelianus Koern. (Rapateaceae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Leaf and inflorescence peduncle anatomy: a contribution to the taxonomy of Rapateaceae

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Anatomia de folhas e escapos de espécies brasileiras de Rapateeae (Rapateoideae - Rapateaceae)

Estudou-se a anatomia de Spathanthus, Rapatea, Cephalostemon e Duckea pertencentes à tribo Rapateeae (Rapateoideae, Rapateaceae), buscando levantar caracteres úteis para a taxonomia. Todas as espécies estudadas apresentam células epidérmicas com a parede periclinal externa levemente espessada e feixes de fibras subepidérmicos em ambos os órgãos; feixes vasculares na região mediana da folha, com bainha de fibras conspícua no floema; e escapos com idioblastos contendo compostos fenólicos na epiderme e no parênquima, que são características que suportam a tribo. O formato do escapo em secção transversal diferencia os gêneros, enquanto a forma e estrutura da nervura central do limbo foliar tem valor diagnóstico. São características exclusivas de Spathanthus: células epidérmicas com corpos silicosos com distribuição aleatória e parênquima clorofiliano plicado no limbo foliar; e presença de feixes de fibras no mesofilo e no parênquima do escapo. Spathanthus distingue-se também pelo número, tipo e distribuição dos feixes vasculares no escapo. O gênero Rapatea caracteriza-se pela presença de estômatos e células com corpos silicosos apenas na epiderme abaxial das folhas e pela presença de parênquima clorofiliano braciforme no limbo foliar. Rapatea paludosa distingue-se por apresentar folha com extensão da bainha dos feixes vasculares em ambas as faces da epiderme e escapos com alas desiguais, enquanto Rapatea ulei apresenta escapos com alas do mesmo tamanho e tricomas contendo compostos fenólicos. São caracteres com valor diagnóstico para Cephalostemon riedelianus: células epidérmicas com paredes retas em vista frontal e escapo com córtex definido, cordões esclerenquimáticos subepidérmicos voltados aos feixes vasculares maiores e medula fistulosa

Leaf and inflorescence axis anatomy of Brazilian species of Rapateoideae (Rapateaceae, Poales)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Anatomia de folha e eixo da inflorescência: contribuições à taxonomia de Rapateaceae

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Microsporogenesis and anther development in Bromeliaceae

Bromeliaceae possess several features of pollen and anther wall development that are plesiomorphic for Poales, consistent with their putatively basal or near-basal placement in this order. For example, successive microsporogenesis and the monocotyledonous type of anther wall formation are both plesiomorphic features that occur commonly in other Poales, with a few notable exceptions, notably the simultaneous type of microsporogenesis in Rapateaceae. The intermediate type of tapetum development in Bromeliaceae was probably derived secondarily from a secretory type, which occurs in most other Poales except Typhaceae.

Microsporogenesis is simultaneous in the early-divergent grass Streptochaeta, but successive in the closest grass relative, Ecdeiocolea

Simultaneous microsporogenesis is described for the first time in a grass, Streptochaeta spicata Schrad., a tropical Brazilian species that belongs in the early-divergent subfamily Anomochlooideae. Microsporogenesis is successive in all other Poaceae examined so far, and most other members of the order Poales, to which grasses belong. The only other reports of simultaneous microsporogenesis in Poales are in Rapateaceae and some members of the cyperid clade (Juncaceae, Cyperaceae, Prionium and Thurnia). Among the graminids, Ecdeiocolea (the putative closest relative to Poaceae) is successive, as are Joinvillea, Flagellaria and all other Poaceae, indicating that the simultaneous condition is autapomorphic in Streptochaeta, though Anomochloa has yet to be examined. Anther wall development in Streptochaeta is of the reduced type, as also in another early-divergent grass Pharus, though most other Poales, including most grasses, have the monocot type. In Streptochaeta, as in Pharus, the endothecium lacks thickenings, unlike other grasses that have a persistent endothecium with thickenings. The centrifixed anthers and nonplumose stigmas of Streptochaeta suggest entomophily.

Structure and development of the ovule in Bromeliaceae

Ovule structure and development are described for twelve species of Bromeliaceae, representing ten genera and all three subfamilies, including all three tribes of the polyphyletic subfamily Pitcairnioideae (Brocchinieae, Puyeae and Pitcairnieae). The characteristic micropylar and chalazal seed appendages of Bromeliaceae are compared with developing structures in the ovules. Chalazal seed appendages have also been reported in the putatively related family Rapateaceae, but they differ in detailed structure, and may have evolved independently in the two families.

Estudos taxonômicos e anatômicos em Mayacaceae kunth

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Anatomia floral e aspectos reprodutivos de espécies de Poales (Monocotiledôneas)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)