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Why pendulum symmetry is absent from the cymose partial inflorescences of Cannaceae? Insights into the essential characteristic of cincinni

Journal of Plant Research volume 134, pages 797–802 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

In a typical cincinnus, the neighboring two flowers are generally enantiomorphic, which leads to the pendulum symmetry of the entire cyme. While in a two-flowered Cannaceae cincinnus, the flowers develop the same chirality. In this study, we observed several abnormal cincinni of Canna indica that extended longer than their normal form, which presented a second enantiomorphic flower, thus reflecting a typical pendulum symmetry. The chirality change of the second flower was strongly associated with the position of the lateral cincinnus meristem, which determines the angle size of the cincinnus zigzag shift and may serve as a key factor controlling the formation of pendulum symmetry. We propose that alternating floral chirality and the concomitant pendulum symmetry are the essential characteristics of a typical cincinnus. Accordingly, Canna flowers with the same chirality are arranged in modified cincinni.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. Yuke He (SIPPE) for his help in research conducting. This work was supported by Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant Number: 2019A1515110029) and the National Science and Technology Infrastructure Program of China (Grant Number: 2015FY210100).

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Author notes

  1. Xueyi Tian and Qianxia Yu contribute equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Xueyi Tian, Qianxia Yu, Pu Zou & Jingping Liao

  2. National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Xueyi Tian

  3. College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Canjia Lin

  4. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Digital Botanical Garden, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Canjia Lin, Tong Zhao & Jingping Liao

Authors
  1. Xueyi Tian
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  2. Qianxia Yu
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  3. Canjia Lin
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  4. Tong Zhao
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  5. Pu Zou
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Contributions

XT observed the first abnormal cincinnus and then conceived and designed the research with the instruction of JL. QY performed the SEM observations. XT analyzed the data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the final version.

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Correspondence to Xueyi Tian.

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Tian, X., Yu, Q., Lin, C. et al. Why pendulum symmetry is absent from the cymose partial inflorescences of Cannaceae? Insights into the essential characteristic of cincinni. J Plant Res 134, 797–802 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-021-01286-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-021-01286-4

Keywords

  • Canna indica
  • Floral chirality
  • Floral enantiomorphy
  • Inflorescence architecture
  • Scorpioid cyme
  • Zingiberales