On flower design: a compilation

Hermaphrodite plants represent approximately 96% of the flowering species. Antirrhinum, Arabidopsis, Sinapsis or Pisum are model experimental systems in desciphering floral development. Classical and modern studies are reviewed, and a compilation of proposed models on flower pattern formation presented to suggest that such models, while explaining rather accurately the specification of floral organ fate (identity), are yet too simple to account for additional events involved in pattern establishment, cell type determination etc. or molecular patterns of expression of available cloned genes.