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LACK OF FUSION. "Considering the ancestral angiosperm, it is likely that lack of fusion among and between most organs is the ancestral condition for the angiosperm flower, with the potential exception of basal fusion of the outermost perianth. For example, fusion of the carpel margins to form an enclosed carpel arose multiple times and is not considered homologous owing to the diversity of carpel types degrees of completeness of fusion." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

MONOCOT EVOLUTION. "The compitum is considered a key innovation that evolved independently in monocots and in eudicots with various degrees of fusion involved in the formation of the structure. Both syncarpy and the additional fusion of the stigmatic area to form a functional compitum are cases in which fusion provides an adaptive advantage." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

POLLEN TUBE FUSION. "Congenitally united carpels benefit from the development of the compitum, a single pollen tube transmitting tract resulting from the fusion in the stigmatic region. This enables flowers with multiple ovaries to maintain centralized pollen tube selection, which has an adaptive advantage for targeted fertilization." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

KEY FUSION INNOVATION. "Syncarpy is considered to be a key innovation, estimated to have evolved independently at least 17 times and correlated with increased rates of fertilization and enhanced offspring fitness." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

ANGIOSPERM FUSIONS. "During the evolution of the angiosperm flower, the ovule-bearing carpels become enrolled and sealed with the ovules inside, with carpel fusion being a derived state for the angiosperm flower. Once the carpel is formed, syncarpy, or the congenital fusion of multiple carpels to form a multicarpellate ovary, dominates angiosperm evolution, with an estimated 80% of all angiosperms bearing syncarpous ovaries." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

"ANTHER FUSION has been demonstrated to enhance pollen removal in the flower of Campsis grandiflora, one of many flowers with didynamous (two pairs of unequal length) stamens." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

FITNESS FUNCTION. "Interestingly, fusion of filaments alone is typically found in the early diverging angiosperms in flowers with many petals, while fusion events involving both anthers (connective) and filament are typically correlated with petal fusion, indicating that stamen fusion may have adaptive significance in flowers with tubular petals, increasing fitness through improved mechanisms of pollen reception or dispersal." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

"STAMEN FUSION, including fusion of filaments, fusion of anthers and fusion to the style, can be found in over 70 families of flowering plants occurring independently with differing mechanisms of fusion." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

FUSION EVOLUTION. "Unlike perianth fusion, which occurs early in angiosperm evolution and defines large clades, stamen fusion occurs multiple times independently and does not tend to define major angiosperm clades, although it is locally important for species-level diversification and is likely to have adaptive significance given the impact on mating patterns in plant populations." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues and concludes this weekend on the subject of floral fusions and their evolution and functions. These chimeric plant organs are driven by boundaries at a cellular and genetic level. Boundaries define the morphological transitions in flowers. Come and enjoy a deeper appreciation of the enormous diversity of flowers and how they got to be what they are, and speculate on where they may be headed. View in LinkedIn