Flowers—Diversity, Development, and Evolution: Introduction

Abstract

On the occasion of Peter K. Endress’s sixtieth birthday, a conference entitled “Flowers—Diversity, Development, and Evolution” was held in July 2002 at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, to recognize his contributions to our knowledge of the biology of flowers and the evolution of flowering plants. Peter Endress has strongly influenced our understanding of floral morphology. Floral diversity in structure, development, and function and their bearing on phylogeny and evolution, especially of the phylogenetically first branching groups of angiosperms (ANITA, magnoliids, and basal eudicots), are Peter Endress’s main research interests. His studies, together with those of paleobotanists, molecular systematists, and molecular developmental biologists, have led to new views on early flower evolution. In addition to his achievements as a researcher, Peter Endress is also an excellent teacher and supervisor of many young botanists. As his current or former students, we benefited from his patient and generous support of our own explorations into the world of the evolution and biology of flowers. The scientific study of flowers dates back to the eighteenth century and to the pioneering work of Christian Konrad Sprengel. Since that time, and especially during the last century, it has undergone vast theoretical and methodological diversifications. Flower research, earlier dominated by the classical fields of morphology and anatomy, is now greatly expanded and enhanced by the addition of new sources of knowledge from the study of floral development, breeding systems, and, more recently, developmental genetics. Techniques such as scanning electron microscopy and, increasingly, a number of molecular tools allow us to explore the wonders and intricacies of flowers at ever deeper levels. At the same time, these diversifications have led to the disintegration of knowledge; i.e., it is difficult for researchers in one field to fully understand the details of any other field. Thus, in the twenty-first century, there is a great need for the synthesis and integration of data resulting from these vastly different approaches. Peter Endress’s goal has always been to synthesize the many aspects of the biology and evolution of flowers, and similarly, this conference aimed to provide an interface for the exchange of knowledge between the various fields connected to flower research. Accordingly, 16 articles in this supplementary issue of the International Journal of Plant Sciences cover a wide range of topics and methods, either directly pursuing research on flow-