Floral Anatomy in Relation to Taxonomy

Abstract

The systematist has to look forward to workers in different disciplines of botany for features and correlations that may be of interest to him in making his classification the "epitome of our knowledge of plants". It has been our endeavour here to indicate the way in which studies in floral anatomy have helped the taxonomist in achieving this object.Variations in the vascular plan of the flower, as in floral structures, are numerous and they have been classified under the following heads : (1) Reduction, (2) Amplification, (3) Cohesion and (4) Adnation. All these 'modifications have, in some way or another, helped the taxonomist by providing him additional data.Some specific examples from Ranunpulaceae, Umbelliferae, Polygalaceae, Gentianaceae, Papilionatae, Rutaceae and Apocynaceae are then given to show how floral anatomy has been helpful to the systematist in strengthening or sometimes rejecting his inferences. Besides, it is inferred that floral anatomy may also contributed valuable data in determining correlations in larger groups such as orders.In conlusion it is pleaded that floral anatomists should make their studies more comprehensive than what they hitherto have been. Besides, they should also realize that, like any other branch of study, floral anatomy also has certain limitations. Ignoring them will be as harmful to the cause of floral anatomy as exaggerating them.