The making of flowers

Abstract

The making of flowers 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 separated from ovarian wall. 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 as assumed. Extrapolation from such interpretation of angiosperm gynoecium leads to a new hypothesis unifying not only angiosperms but also all known seed plants or even all land plants. Although needing further testing, this hypothesis appears more plausible than the traditional one.