The diversity of angiosperms in floral form and development has been an area of interest for biologists. A multitude of studies investigating the evolution of flowering plants have attempted to determine why angiosperms are so diverse. One possible major contributor to flower form diversity is pollinator pressure. The interactions between flowers and their pollinators have important ecological and evolutionary consequences, with co-evolution often occuring. Many studies have looked at suites of floral traits that affect pollinator visitation, which have been coined pollination syndromes (Fenster et al., 2004). These traits include but are not limited to, flower color, flower orientation, landing platforms, and nectar guides.;With the increase in genetic tools, and the utilization of model species such as Antirrhinum majus(Plantaginaceae) and Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaeae), many studies are looking at the geneitc architecture of floral traits. Studies have determined the genetic blueprint for floral oragn identity, as well as in traits asociated with pollination syndromes including flower color and symmetry. Using members of the Antirrhineae tribe (Plantaginaceae) makes it easier to effectively use the resources from A. majus, or snapdragon.;Chapter 1 investigates the applicability of the sliding boundary model for petaloid sepal formation in Rhodochiton atrosanguineum, a close relative of snapdragon. We were interested in determing if the petaloid sepals of R. atrosanguineum had true petal identity, or were merely just colorful sepals. Chapter 2 focuses on possible petal function, and not merely petal identity. Conical cells are found on roughly 80% of angiosperms (Kay et al., 1981) and are thought to be a marker for petal identity. However, conical cells are thought to be absent mostly in hummingbird pollinated flowers, though no studies have looked at this in depth (Christensen and Hansen, 1998). For this chapter, we investigated possible correlated evolution between petal epidermal cell shape and pollination system.
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机译：花卉形式和发育中被子植物的多样性一直是生物学家关注的领域。许多研究开花植物进化的研究试图确定为什么被子植物如此多样。授粉媒介压力是造成花形多样性的一个可能的主要因素。花及其授粉媒介之间的相互作用具有重要的生态和进化影响，并经常发生共同进化。许多研究都研究了一系列影响传粉者探访的花卉特征，这些特征被称为“授粉综合症”（Fenster等，2004）。这些特征包括但不限于花的颜色，花的方向，着陆平台和花蜜引导。随着遗传工具的增加，以及对模式树种的利用，如大头草（Antirrhinum majus）（Plantaginaceae）和拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）（Brassicaeae），许多研究都在研究花卉性状的遗传结构。研究已经确定了花Oragn身份以及与授粉综合症（包括花的颜色和对称性）相关的性状的遗传蓝图。通过使用Antirrhineae部落（Plantaginaceae）的成员，可以更轻松地有效地利用来自A. majus或金鱼草的资源。第一章研究了滑动边界模型在金鱼草近亲Rhodochiton atrosanguineum的花瓣状萼片形成中的适用性。我们感兴趣的是确定R. atrosanguineum的花瓣状萼片具有真实的花瓣身份，还是仅仅是彩色的萼片。第2章重点介绍可能的花瓣功能，而不仅仅是花瓣身份。圆锥形细胞约占被子植物的80％（Kay等，1981），被认为是花瓣身份的标志。但是，蜂鸟授粉花中通常不存在圆锥形细胞，尽管没有深入研究（Christensen and Hansen，1998）。在本章中，我们研究了花瓣表皮细胞形状与授粉系统之间可能的相关进化。
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