PATTERNING THE FLORAL MERISTEM

Flowers are reproductive structures unique to the angiosperms. Flowers , which develop from small mounds of cells called floral meristems, sh ow a number of universal patterns such as the arrangement of organs of different type along the floral axis. However, other conserved patter ns, such as floral asymmetry, are merely conserved within different su bgroups. This review discusses the emerging picture of early operating developmental mechanisms, which pattern floral meristems along the ra dial and dorsiventral axes, and of later-acting ones, which pattern ti ssue differentiation within floral organs.