Making of the Flower

Abstract

Making of the flower is the key question in the origin of angiosperms. Two rivaling schools in botany have been fighting against each other on the nature of carpel in the past centuries. This prolonged controversy over the carpel may end if placenta is isolated from carpel. This separation is supported by evidence from various fields. Observations of the organization of floral parts in some angiosperms indicate that the formerly assumed primitive carpel may not be so primitive. Extrapolation from the floral organization of Caryophyllales leads to a new hypothesis of flower forming and points to Palaeozoic Cordaitales-related groups for the ancestry of angiosperms. Although this new hypothesis can answer many formerly difficult questions, as a hypothesis, it still needs more evidence to test.