Perianth development in Angophora and the bloodwood Eucalypts (Myrtaceae)

Abstract

The petals of Angophora flowers are compound structures consisting of two morphologically distinct components that develop along separate morphogenetic pathways. These two components are also evident in the corolline parts of the bloodwood eucalypts. In occasional flowers of Angophora and some bloodwoods, several adjacent corolline primordia may become continuous due to interprimordial growth, but the petals are mostly free at anthesis. In other bloodwood eucalypt species all the primordia in the corolline whorl become continuous at some stage in development, resulting in an operculum that is anatomically unresolvable into its original petaline parts. The varying degrees of this continuity t..