Structure, development and evolution of the androecium in Adansonieae (core Bombacoideae, Malvaceae s.l.)

Androecium development and vasculature were studied in nine species of the Adansonieae clade (core Bombacoideae, Malvaceae s.l.). In early androecium development either distinct pentagonal androecial ring walls or five common petal/androecium primordia are present. Ring walls give rise to five antepetalous and five alternipetalous primary androecial primordia. Common primordia divide into peripheral petal primordia and antepetalous primary androecial primordia. Antepetalous primary androecial primordia split anticlinally into ten primordia-halves, on which secondary androecial primordia are initiated in a centrifugal succession. Androecial lobes are formed by fusion of an alternipetalous primary androecial primordium and its two neighbouring antepetalous primary primordia-halves, a pattern that also occurs in other Malvatheca. Later, tertiary androecial primordia are formed by the subdivision of secondary androecial primordia (except in Adansonia and Ceiba). Each tertiary primordium differentiates into a two-locular androecial unit. At anthesis these two-locular androecial units are often present in pairs, corresponding to the two halves of the same secondary androecial primordium. Androecium development and vasculature imply that the alternipetalous androecial sectors have been reduced in Bombacoideae, a tendency that is shared with other subfamilies of Malvaceae.