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Progress and problems in the assessment of flower morphology in higher-level systematics

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Abstract

Floral features used for characterization of higher-level angiosperm taxa (families, orders, and above) are assessed following a comparison of earlier (precladistic/premolecular) and current classifications. Cronquist (An integrated system of classification of flowering plants. Columbia University Press, New York, 1981) and APG (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group) (Bot J Linn Soc 161:105–121, 2009) were mainly used as the basis for this comparison. Although current circumscriptions of taxonomic groups (clades) are largely based on molecular markers, it is also important to morphologically characterize these new groups, as, in many cases, they are completely novel assemblages, especially at the level of orders and above. Features used in precladistic/premolecular classifications are often much more evolutionarily plastic than earlier assumed. A number of earlier neglected but potentially useful features at higher levels are discussed based on our own and other recent studies. As certain features tend to evolve repeatedly in a clade, it appears that apomorphic features in the strict sense are less helpful to characterize larger clades than earlier assumed, and rather apomorphic tendencies of features are more useful at this level.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Alex Bernhard for graphic work. Louis Ronse De Craene and an anonymous reviewer are acknowledged for their valuable suggestions on the manuscript. This study is part of project 31003A_129804 “Flower diversity and evolution in rosids” funded by the Swiss National Foundation (SNF). We also thank the Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, for the support given.

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  1. Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstr. 107, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland

    Peter K. Endress & Merran L. Matthews

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Correspondence to Peter K. Endress.

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Endress, P.K., Matthews, M.L. Progress and problems in the assessment of flower morphology in higher-level systematics. Plant Syst Evol 298, 257–276 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-011-0576-2

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