Abstract Detail

Don Kaplan - his legacy: Influencing teaching and research

Groff, Paul [1], Whitlock, Barbara A. [2].

Evolution of whole-plant developmental morphology in fringed gentians (Gentianopsis, Gentianaceae).

The species of Gentianopsis (fringed gentians, Gentianaceae) show interesting variation in the architecture of their shoot systems that has been recognized only rarely, and incompletely, in published literature. At least three of these species also grow clonally via root-borne shoots; for two species of the western United States, this mode of development was first described by the senior author. Such variation in shoot architecture and in the relation of shoot systems to root systems is significant to our understanding of life history in the genus. For example, G. simplex, always described as an annual in the systematic literature (on which ecologists and conservationists often depend), proved -- as predicted from close morphological study of herbarium material -- to have a polycarpic, perennial, and clonal developmental pattern. This is only one case of many in which the perspective and conceptual vocabulary of developmental morphology, applied to the whole plant (the genetic individual), is needed to understand the life history of a plant species.
The delimitation of species in Gentianopsis and published hypotheses of their relationships have been based on characters of the flowers, leaves, fruits, and seeds, and on precladistic ideas about phylogeny and biogeography. Modern analytical methods and new data from nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences, combined with characters of reproductive morphology, have enabled us to develop more detailed and robust hypotheses of phylogeny for the genus. These new phylogenetic analyses provide a framework for understanding the evolution of patterns of whole-plant developmental morphology (hence of life history) in fringed gentians.

1 - P.O. Box 144156, Coral Gables, Florida, 33114-4156, USA
2 - University of Miami, Department of Biology, Coral Gables, Florida, 33124-0421, USA

Keywords:
whole-plant developmental morphology
Gentianopsis
life history
ontogeny
plant architecture
phylogeny
Evolution.

Presentation Type: Symposium
Session: 26-9
Location: Ballroom 2 (Cliff Lodge)
Date: Tuesday, August 3rd, 2004
Time: 11:05 AM
Abstract ID:439