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Embryology and its character evolution in Staphyleaceae

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Abstract

The family Staphyleaceae, which was recently reorganized into the two genera Staphylea and Dalrympelea based on molecular phylogenetic analyses, is sister to a clade of Crossosomataceae, Guamatelaceae, and Stachyuraceae in the order Crossosomatales. In contrast to Crossosomataceae and Stachyuraceae, the embryology of Staphyleaceae has been scarcely studied. We carried out a literature survey and examined three additional species of each genus in order to better understand the evolution of the embryological characters in the family. Characters were nearly identical across examined species. Staphyleaceae shared most characters of nucellus, megagametophyte, and integuments with Stachyuraceae with the exception of several embryological characters. The presence of a nucellar cap was found to be informative and supports the close relationship between Staphyleaceae and Stachyuraceae. We also investigated the evolution of variable characters among Crossosomataceae, Stachyuraceae, and Staphyleaceae. Staphyleaceae species share the presence of a single archesporial cell and absence of an aril as symplesiomorphies. The presence of less than five parietal cells in the nucellus is a possible synapomorphy for the genus Staphylea, while presence of vascular bundles in the testa is a possible synapomorphy for Staphyleaceae. Our observations support the identification of the seed coat as mesotestal. Several variant embryological characters within the family are discussed.

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Acknowledgement

I am grateful to two anonymous reviewers and Louis P. Ronse De Craene (E) for helpful comments on the manuscript. This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (25440205).

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  1. Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Science, Shizuoka University, Ohya, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, 422-8529, Japan

    Takuya Ishida & Toru Tokuoka

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  1. Takuya Ishida
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  2. Toru Tokuoka
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Correspondence to Toru Tokuoka.

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Handling editor: Louis P. Ronse De Craene.

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Ishida, T., Tokuoka, T. Embryology and its character evolution in Staphyleaceae. Plant Syst Evol 303, 1317–1329 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-017-1455-2

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