Floral evolution: dramatic size change was recent and rapid in the world's largest flowers.
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.
Davis
Charles C
CC
Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University Herbaria, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. cdavis@oeb.harvard.edu
D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D005075:Biological Evolution; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D013997:Time Factors