Developmental morphology of branching flowers in Nymphaea prolifera

Nymphaea and Nuphar (Nymphaeaceae) share an extra-axillary mode of floral inception in the shoot apical meristem (SAM). Some leaf sites along the ontogenetic spiral are occupied by floral primordia lacking a subtending bract. This pattern of flower initiation in leaf sites is repeated inside branching flowers of Nymphaea prolifera (Central and South America). Instead of fertile flowers this species usually produces sterile tuberiferous flowers that act as vegetative propagules. N. prolifera changes the meristem identity from reproductive to vegetative or vice versa repeatedly. Each branching flower first produces some perianth-like leaves, then it switches back to the vegetative meristem identity of the SAM with the formation of foliage leaves and another set of branching flowers. This process is repeated up to three times giving rise to more than 100 vegetative propagules. The developmental morphology of the branching flowers of N. prolifera is described using both microtome sections and scanning electron microscopy.