botanyoneSpecies within the Ranunculales bear flowers of formidable variation; for example, one can find novel floral organs and loss of floral organs, zygomorphic and radially symmetric flowers, and variation in floral organ number.
Becker reviews recent developments on the molecular aspects of Ranunculales flower development, focusing especially on aspects not found in Brassicaceae development, such as the ring meristem producing variable numbers of stamens. A new hypothesis for the evolution of the progressively fixed angiosperm floral bauplan is proposed, comparing the genetic interactions observed in Ranunculales with those found in Brassicaceae.
