EVIDENCE FOR CARPEL MULTIPLICATIONS IN THE CAPPARACEAE

It is demonstrated that an increase in carpel numbers originated from an original bicarpellate condition in the Capparaceae. Possible direct ions of evolution of carpel numbers are discussed in the light of earl ier hypotheses. A comparison of different carpel numbers in the family is suggestive of a progressive increase by partitioning of the placen tas and/or the addition of primordia within a single whorl. Evidence i s found in the pairwise closing of the four locules in the tetracarpel late Capparis micracantha. Another possibility, found in C. spinosa, i s an unordered increase of carpels within a whorl, concomitant with a secondary stamen increase. Comparable processes are probably responsib le for higher carpel numbers in the Papaveraceae and Brassicaceae. Two types of false septa are recognized and defined, viz. placental and l aminal.