Die Homologie des Perigons der Zingiberaceen Ein Beitrag zur Morphologie und Phylogenie des Monokotylen-Perigons

Nicolaia elatior is used as an example to demonstrate that the mucronate tepals ofZingiberaceae correspond to hypsophylls (bracts) consisting of a leaf sheath and a rudimentary Oberblatt (= leaf petiole + lamina) represented by the mucro. Evidence for this interpretation is furnished by all available criteria: leaf sequence (exhibiting a complete continuum of forms from foliage leaves over cata- and hypsophylls to the tepals), nervature, and ontogeny.The present conception is compared with the well-founded thesis ofLeinfellner that the perigone ofLiliaceae is derived from the androecium. The different morphological status of the perigone in both families is not regarded as the result of different phylogenetic origin, but as a manifestation of morphogenetic transgressions from one phyllome category to an adjacent one: In theLiliaceae the perigone is under a strong morphogenetic influence of the androecium, and therefore displays staminal characters, in theZingiberaceae it is under the dominating influence of the extrafloral region, and thus appears as a hypsophyllous structure. If this assumption of a morphologically oscillating perigone is correct, it will be fundamentally impossible to demonstrate unequivocally the phylogenetic origin of the monocotyledonous perigone.

Im wissenschaftlichen Werk Prof. Dr.Walter Leinfellners steht an erster Stelle die Morphologie der Blütenorgane. Als sein dankbarer Schüler möchte ich ihm aus Anlaß seines 70. Geburtstages die folgende Studie zu einem Thema zueignen, das ihn wie mich gleichermaßen angesprochen hat und schon Gegenstand der Forschungsarbeit des Jubilars war: die Homologie des Monokotylen-Perigons.