Ovary and ovule anatomy in the nidularioid complex and its taxonomic utility ( Bromelioideae: Bromeliaceae).

In Bromelioideae, the so-called nidularioid complex contains closely related genera, the circumscription of which has been problematic. The goal of this study was to describe the ovary and ovule anatomy of six species of the nidularioid complex belonging to Canistropsis, Canistrum, Edmundoa, Neoregelia, Nidularium and Wittrockia and to use these characters in a parsimony analysis of relationships. In all analysed species, schizogenous-type aerenchyma is present in the ovarian mesophyll. Edmundoa lindenii has trichomes on the ovary surface, and this character appears to be an autapomorphy for the species. Canistrum aurantiacum exhibited some autapomorphies, such as four cell layers in the outer integument, non-elongated cells in the nucellar epidermis and three or four layers of cells in the parietal tissue. In the remaining species of the complex, the presence of transversally orientated ovules and anticlinally elongated cells in the outer integument in the micropylar region appear to be synapomorphies. Canistrum aurantiacum shares few characters with the other species; these results and the latest phylogenetic analysis show that Canistrum spp. do not belong to the current nidularioid clade. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, 177, 66-77. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]