Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 6, 2025

Whole-mount Clearing and Staining of Arabidopsis Flower Organs and Siliques
Published on: April 12, 2018
Development and Evolution of Unisexual Flowers: A Review
Florian Jabbour1, Felipe Espinosa2, Quentin Dejonghe1
1Institut de Systématique Évolution Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, 57 rue Cuvier, CP39, 75005 Paris, France.
Abstract:
The development of unisexual flowers has been described in a large number of taxa, sampling the diversity of floral phenotypes and sexual systems observed in extant angiosperms, in studies focusing on floral ontogeny, on the evo-devo of unisexuality, or on the genetic and chromosomal bases of unisexuality. We review here such developmental studies, aiming at characterizing the diversity of ontogenic pathways leading to functionally unisexual flowers. In addition, we present for the first time and in a two-dimensional morphospace a quantitative description of the developmental rate of the sexual organs in functionally unisexual flowers, in a non-exhaustive sampling of angiosperms with contrasted floral morphologies. Eventually, recommendations are provided to help plant evo-devo researchers and botanists addressing macroevolutionary and ecological issues to more precisely select the taxa, the biological material, or the developmental stages to be investigated.
Related Concept Videos
Pollination and Flower Structure
Asexual Reproduction
Non-vascular Seedless Plants
Genetics of Speciation
The Angiosperm Life Cycle
Formation of Species

