Eudicots

EUDICOTS

One of the major changes in the understanding of the evolution of the angiosperms was the realization that the basic distinction among flowering plants is not between monocotyledon groups (monocots) and dicotyledon groups (dicots). Rather, plants thought of as being “typical dicots” have evolved from within another group that includes the more-basal dicots and the monocots together. This group of typical dicots is now known as the eudicots. Molecular-based evidence supports their being a single evolutionary lineage (monophyletic), and they are characterized by pollen that fundamentally has three furrows or pores (tricolpate), in contrast to the single pore or furrow of the monocot and basal dicot group (monosulcates).

Within the eudicots there is a large clade called the core eudicots, nearly all members of which show major differences in floral morphology from that of other flowering plants. In particular, the basic construction of the flower is much more stereotyped than in the basal eudicots, monocots, and basal dicots. Within nearly every order of the core eudicots, there are families with a basic “5 + 5 + (5 or 10) + (3 or 5)” floral construction. This refers to five sepals, five petals, one whorl of five stamens, often another whorl of five stamens, and finally a whorl of three or five carpels. The members of the whorls alternate with each other so that the petals are on radii midway between the sepal radii; the carpels in the centre of the flower are on the same radii as the sepals but are opposite to them. When core eudicots have only five stamens, as is common, these stamens usually are the stamens of the outer whorl—that is, they alternate with the petals and are opposite the sepals. Furthermore, the carpels at least are more or less fused, and there is often a well-developed nectary disc either surrounding the base of the ovary or, less frequently, borne immediately outside the stamens. The flowers are usually perfect and are radially symmetric. It is interesting that some families in most of the core eudicot orders, including Asterid orders such as Cornales and Ericales, have members with many stamens, but in nearly all cases these stamens develop in a different way than the numerous stamens in families such as Ranunculaceae (a basal eudicot) or Magnoliaceae (a basal angiosperm).

Core eudicots commonly show other features as well. Instead of the stamens having the pollen sac, or anther, attached at the base to a stalk, or filament, the two being more or less continuous, in core eudicots the filament is often attached at the back of the anther, and it narrows considerably just before it joins the anther. The pollen of the core eudicots commonly has three longitudinal depressions, or colpi, as does the pollen of the rest of the eudicots, but in the middle of each colpus there is a circular pore through which the pollen tube emerges; that is, the pollen is basically tricolporate. There are many deviations from this generalized structure, but keeping it in mind as a reference is helpful for understanding angiosperm evolution.

Within the core eudicots there are a number of major clades. These include the Asterids and Rosids, which are very species-rich, the former particularly so. The basic arrangement of the flower parts in these eudicot clades does not change, but the petals are commonly fused in the Asterids, forming a corolla tube. There are also chemicals common in the Asterids that are very rare in any other flowering plants.