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Floral developmental morphology of three Indigofera species (Leguminosae) and its systematic significance within Papilionoideae

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Abstract

Inflorescence and floral development of three species of Indigofera (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae), I. lespedezioides, I. spicata, and I. suffruticosa, were investigated and compared with that of other papilionoid groups, especially with members of the recently circumscribed Millettioid clade, which was merged as sister to Indigofereae in a recent cladistic analysis. Although Indigofera is a genus of special interest, because of its great richness in species and its economic importance, few studies have been made of floral development in the genus or in Indigofereae as a whole. Flower buds and inflorescences were analysed at several stages of development in the three species. Our results confirmed that Indigofera species bear a usual inflorescence type among legumes, the raceme, which comprises flowers initiated in acropetal succession, each with a subtending bract and no bracteoles initiated. The inception of the floral organs is as follows: sepals (5), petals (5), carpel (1), outer stamens (5), and, finally, inner stamens (5). Organ initiation in the sepal, petal, and both stamen whorls is unidirectional, from the abaxial side; the carpel cleft is adaxial. The vexillum is larger than other petals at maturity, covering the keels, which are fused edge-to-edge. Nine filaments are fused to form an adaxially open sheath, and the adaxial stamen of the inner whorl remains free (diadelphous androecium) in the mid-stage of development. Most of the infra-generic differences occurred in the later stages of development. Data on floral development in Indigofera obtained here were also compared with those from other members of Papilionoideae. This comparison showed that the early expression of zygomorphy is shared with other members of the Millettioid clade but is rarely found in other papilionoids, corresponding to a hypothetically morphological synapomorphy in the pair Indigoferae plus millettioids.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Vidal de Freitas Mansano for many helpful comments, Dewey Litwiller (University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) for English review, and Maria Dolores Seabra Ferreira, José Augusto Maulin (SEM Laboratory/BCMBP, FMRP-USP), Luciano Andrey Montouro, Rodrigo Ferreira Silva (SEM Laboratory/FFCLRP-USP), Viviane Gonçalves Leite, Giseli Donizete Pedersoli, and Mario Sadaiti Ogasawara (FCFRP-USP) for technical assistance. This study was supported by FAPESP (process number 2002/11834-5), CAPES, and CNPq (process numbers 301960/2009-7 and 307627/2009-8).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Pós-Graduação em Biologia Comparada, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Av Bandeirantes 3.900, Ribeirão Preto, SP, 14040-901, Brazil

    Juliana Villela Paulino & Milton Groppo

  2. Departamento de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Av. do Café s/nº, Ribeirao Preto, SP, 14040-903, Brazil

    Simone de Pádua Teixeira

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  1. Juliana Villela Paulino
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  2. Milton Groppo
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  3. Simone de Pádua Teixeira
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Correspondence to Simone de Pádua Teixeira.

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Paulino, J.V., Groppo, M. & de Pádua Teixeira, S. Floral developmental morphology of three Indigofera species (Leguminosae) and its systematic significance within Papilionoideae. Plant Syst Evol 292, 165–176 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-010-0405-z

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