Centothecoid grasses and the evolution of panicoid spikelets

Abstract

An evolutionary pathway leading to acrotonous, 2-flowered spikelets of Panicoideae has been suggested elsewhere, which involves apical reduction of many-flowered mesotonic spikelets. Current phylogenies of the grass family show a sister relationship between Panicoideae and Centothecoideae. A survey of spikelet structures occurring among centothecoid grasses shows that some representatives of this group have intermediate morphologies which are consistent with that hypothesis. Chasmanthium and Bromuniola have many-flowered spikelets with a barren proximal floret, whereas Thysanolaena, Gouldochloa and Gynerium represent a series of apical reductions leading to 2-flowered spikelets. Moreover, many-flowered spikelets with 1-3 proximal male flowers followed by several female-fertile ones occur in Puelioideae, one of the early-diverging clades of the Poaceae. This fact suggests that some "panicoid" characters may have evolved long before the radiation of the Panicoideae took place.