Comparative morphology of Anodopetalum (Cunoniaceae)

The vegetative and floral morphology of the Tasmanian endemic Anodopetalum biglandulosum is reexamined and illustrated. A detailed study of herbarium and fresh material identified a number of characters that have, in the past , been misinterpreted. The subsidiary cell arrangement around the stomates is brachyparacytic, and not anomocytic; the petals are shown to be notched, and not entire; the fruit is a weakly lignified, septicidally dehiscent ca psule, not a berry, and the pollen is dicolporate, not tricolporate as has been previously reported. The two- and three-flowered inflorescences and so litary flowers are interpreted as a reduced cyme, while the leaf is interpr eted as a unifoliolate compound leaf. The vegetative and floral morphology in Anodopetalum is compared with the closely related genera Schizomeria, Pl atylophus and Ceratopetalum. Features including notched/fringed petals, dic olporate pollen with a discontinuous (heterogeneous) tectum and weakly hete rogeneous wood rays provide support for interpreting Anodopetalum, Schizome ria, Platylophus and Ceratopetalum as a monophyletic group. Anodopetalum di ffers from these genera in its strongly dehiscent fruits and winged seeds.