Floral organogenesis in Urophysa rockii, a rediscovered endangered and rare species of Ranunculaceae

Abstract

Urophysa is an Asian endemic genus in the Ranunculaceae, but data on floral organogenesis, which would be a useful complement to molecular data in clarifying the relationship with closely related taxa (Aquilegia and Semiaquilegia) in Ranunculaceae, are completely lacking. We used scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy to study the floral development of Urophysa rockii Ulbrich, a recently rediscovered species in this genus. The sepals are initiated spirally, whereas other organs are nonsimultaneously whorled; the floral phyllotaxis is whorled. Primordia of the sepals are lunular and truncate, but those of the petals and stamens are hemispherical and rounded. After sepal initiation, there is a delay in development, but the initiation of petals and stamens is continuous. The developmental sequence of the microspores in the stamens is centrifugal, although the stamens are initiated centripetally. The early developmental stages of the staminodes are similar to those of the stamens, although much smaller, so they may be phylogenetically homologous organs. The carpel primordia are lunular in shape and plicate. The mature ovule is anatropous and bitegmic. Urophysa shows similar floral development features as Aquilegia and Semiaquilegia, although with some differences, which supports the relationship inferred by DNA sequence data.

Delimiting priority areas for the conservation of endemic and threatened Neotropical birds using a niche-based gap analysis

“…These models correlate known occurrences of target species with climatic, land-use, and topographic data to delimit the multidimensional bioclimatic requirements for the modeled taxa, reflecting their environmental preferences [ 22 ]. SDMs can be overlaid upon the geographic range space to fill biogeographic gaps within species’ ranges [ 23 ], even for elusive and seldom recorded species [ 24 – 27 ]. In conservation, SDMs have been widely and successfully used to 1) predict the distribution of rare, endemic and threatened species [ 25 , 28 – 31 ], 2) perform niche-based gap analyses and discover species that are not protected (i.e.…”

Ovule morphogenesis and structure in Menispermaceae, focusing on the development of the single fertile ovule and its systematic significance

“…To our knowledge, few obturators have been described in detail in Ranunculales (Sastri, 1954; Wang & Ren, 2008; Zhang et al, 2015; Zhao et al, 2016a, 2016b). In this study, the beak‐shaped obturator in Stephania is 9–11 cell layers thick, with ovoid, glandular, thin‐walled cells in compact tissue, and comes from the unitegmy cell division.…”

“…f. & Thomson, endostomic) (Endress & Igersheim, 1999; Wang & Ren, 2008; Zhang et al, 2015). Lobations of integuments have been described in Ranunculaceae, Lardizabalaceae, and Berberidaceae (Wang & Ren, 2008; Zhang et al, 2015; Zhao et al, 2016b). In Ranunculaceae, inner integuments are lobed in Coptis Salisb., Thalictrum L., Dichocarpum W. T. Wang & Hsiao, Caltha L., Trollius L., Aquilegia yabeana Kitag., Aconitum taipeicum Hand.‐Mazz., Actaea asiatica Hara, Beesia Balf.…”

The Biomechanical Screening Game between Visitor Power and Staminode Operative Strength of Delphinium caeruleum (Ranunculaceae)

“…Based on our preliminary observations, the visitors have to In this study, we selected Delphinium caeruleum, which is widely distributed on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, as the experimental subject. In the Ranunculales, the staminodes are diverse in position, morphology, abnormal development stage, and function [21,22]. A notable character of the genus Delphinium (Ranunculaceae) is the presence of two staminodes per flower, covering the anthers and stigmas [23,24] and forming a "double door" type of structure (Figure 2).…”