title: Floral evolution: dramatic size change was recent and rapid in the world's largest flowers.
abstract: Recent studies clarifying the closest relatives of the world's largest flowers, Rafflesiaceae, whose floral diameters range from approximately 11 to approximately 100 cm, indicated that they evolved from tiny-flowered ancestors in a burst of floral gigantism. New data now suggest that floral size evolution within Rafflesiaceae may be more dynamic than expected, with both recent and rapid changes in flower size.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University Herbaria, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. cdavis@oeb.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Charles C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D005075:Biological Evolution; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D013997:Time Factors