Flowers
Evolution
of the Floral Architecture of Angiosperms
Guillaumme Tcherkez:
ISBN 978-1-57808-311-4
; 2004; 194 pages; $ 87.40
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The flower is undoubtedly the most remarkable and most
central characteristic of the Spermatophytes. The study of the flower is
therefore central to botany. It is the sex-ual organ of plants. The
understanding of the evolution and development of flowers has revealed
surprising phenomena about the way in which genes determine the structure of
flowers and about the ecological and evolutionary phenomena that are at
work.
This book delves in detail the intimate functioning of the
flower, whether it is on the biochemical, cellular, molecular, or the
organism scale. It explains the form and function of the flower, not only
from the physiology and developmental biology as-pects, but also from
ecology and evolutionary sciences, integrating genetic, demo-graphic, and
biogeographical perspectives.
CONTENTS
Architecture of Inflorescences. Flowers and inflorescences
. Architecture of inflorescences
. Examples of evolution of
inflorescence architecture
Floral Architecture and Morphogenesis.
Floral architecture
. Genetic expression and morphogenesis
.
Floral evolution through genes?
Evolution of the Plane of Floral
Organization. Phylogeny of Angiosperms
. Evolution
of floral characters linked to the gynoecium
. Evolution and overall
architecture of the flower
. Evolution of the flower on the scale of
the whorl
Floral Architecture and Pollination.
Dispersal and collection of pollen in allogamous plants
. Autogamous
plants
Towards a Global Theory? . Dispersal and
diversification
. Sexuality and fertility
. Dispersal of
pollen and fertiliza-tion in heterogeneous conditions
. Conclusion
Conclusion
Bibliography
General index
Botanical index 
