Abstract.
Comparative studies on floral morphology, anatomy, and histology were performed to identify shared features of the genera of Apodanthaceae (Rafflesiales): Apodanthes, Pilostyles, and Berlinianche. Berlinianche was studied for the first time in detail and its affinity to Apodanthaceae was confirmed. It has a previously undescribed hair cushion on the inner perianth organs and inaperturate pollen. Shared features of members of Apodanthaceae are: unisexual flowers; three (or four) alternating di-/tetra- or tri-/hexamerous whorls of scales of which the inner one or two correspond to a perianth; a synandrium with pollen sacs typically arranged in two rings; opening by a dehiscence line between the two rings of pollen sacs; large vesicular hairs above the synandrium; a gynoecium with four united carpels; inferior and unilocular ovaries with four parietal placentae, ovules tenuinucellate, anatropous with two well developed integuments, oriented in various directions; a nectary disk. Apodanthaceae share some special structural features with Malvales.
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Blarer, A., Nickrent, D. & Endress, P. Comparative floral structure and systematics in Apodanthaceae (Rafflesiales). Plant Syst. Evol. 245, 119–142 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-003-0090-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-003-0090-2