IRD/CIRAD Palm Biology Laboratory, UMR 1098, Centre IRD Montpellier, BP 64501, 911, Avenue Agropolis, 34394 Montpellier, France;
Am J Bot. 2005 Nov;92(11):1836-52. doi: 10.3732/ajb.92.11.1836.
Species of the palm family (Arecaceae) are remarkably diverse in their inflorescence and floral morphologies, which make them a particularly interesting group for studies of reproductive development and its evolution. Using light and scanning electron microscopy, we describe inflorescence and flower development in the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis from the initiation of the inflorescence meristem to flower maturity. In mature palms, the inflorescence develops over 2-3 years and is characterized by individual stages within which differentiation may be either relatively slow, as in the case of early inflorescence meristem development, or rapid, as in the case of flower organogenesis. The female inflorescence bears floral triads composed of single pistillate flowers flanked by two abortive staminate flowers, whereas the male inflorescence contains single functional staminate flowers. This suggests a possible evolutionary movement from an ancestral hermaphrodite inflorescence form containing fully functional floral triads to the situation of temporal dioecy observed at present. Wild type flowers are compared to those bearing an epigenetic homeotic abnormality, known as mantled, involving an alteration of the identity of the organs in the fertile and sterile androecium.
棕榈科植物的花序和花形态非常多样，这使得它们成为研究生殖发育及其进化的一个特别有趣的群体。我们使用光学显微镜和扫描电子显微镜描述了非洲油棕（Elaeis guineensis）的花序和花的发育过程，从花序分生组织的起始到花成熟。在成熟的油棕中，花序的发育需要 2-3 年的时间，其特征是在各个阶段中，分化可能相对缓慢，如早期花序分生组织的发育，或者快速，如花器官的发生。雌花序具有由单个雌花组成的三花序，两侧为两个败育的雄花，而雄花序则包含单个有功能的雄花。这表明可能存在从具有完全有功能的三花序的祖先雌雄同体花序形式向目前观察到的暂时性雌雄异株的进化运动。野生型花与那些具有表观遗传同形异位异常的花（称为覆盖的）进行了比较，涉及可育和不育雄蕊器官的身份的改变。
