From flower to fruit in Noronhia emarginata (Lam.) Thouars(Oleaceae)

Abstract

Summary The flowers and fruits of Noronhia emarginata show several unusual characters, compared to the other Oleaceae with drupaceous fruits, such as a corona tightly enclosing the stamens and the ovary, stone cells already present in the ovary wall, in the mature fruit not restricted to the endocarp but also scattered in the mesocarp, a shifting of the ovules during fruit development, and an unusual type of exotesta. These characters are here interpreted as evidence of ecological specialization rather than an indication of early evolutionary divergence.