THE FLORAL ANATOMY OF DIPTERONIA

Hall , Benedict A. (State U. of New York, Cortland.) The floral anatcmy of Dipteronia. Amer. Jour. Bot. 48(10): 918–924. Illus. 1961.—The floral morphology of Dipteronia sinensis closely resembles that of such species of Acer as A. pseudosieboldianum. Both these species share the following characters: (1) complete flowers; (2) functional unisexuality of staminate flowers, resulting from abortion of the pistil; (3) andromonoecious condition, the same tree bearing both perfect and functionally staminate flowers; (4) nectariferous disc, extrastaminal in position. The vascular anatomy of the 2 species, described in detail in this paper, differs only in minor ways, having similar traces supplying, respectively, perianth, androecium and gynoecium. The greatest difference between the 2 genera lies in the form of the mature fruit, which in Dipteronia has the wings of the samaras completely surrounding the seeds; yet in both genera the vascular skeleton of the fruit is essentially the same. There is a similar cohesion of the vascular traces of sepals and petals in both these species. Differences between these and certain other species of Acer such as A. negundo and A. carpinifolium, herein described, greatly exceed those between A. pseudosieboldianum and Dipteronia. The flowers of A. negundo, for example, have undergone extreme reduction from the presumed ancestral type, having no petals or disc and lacking either stamens or carpels. These facts support the inclusion of Dipteronia in the Aceraceae, but make questionable its status as a genus separate from Acer.