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Floral flexibility: Diversification of the flower

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Angiosperm evolution involves a major transition from spiral to whorled arrangements of floral organs. Examination of the genetic programs specifying floral organ identity in Nigella damascene, a species of Ranunculaceae with spiral flowers, illuminates the molecular basis of how spiral flowers can have flexible numbers of floral organs.

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Figure 1: Flowers of Magnolia champaca (Magnoliaceae) showing the spiral arrangement of floral organs typical of many basal angiosperm lineages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Biology, Douglas E. Soltis is at the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA, and the Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32608, USA.,

    Douglas E. Soltis

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  1. Douglas E. Soltis
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Correspondence to Douglas E. Soltis.

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Soltis, D. Floral flexibility: Diversification of the flower. Nature Plants 2, 15211 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2015.211

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2015.211

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