Abstract Detail

Horsetails Through Form, Space, and Time

Rothwell, Gar W [1].

Horsetails through form, space, and time; introduction and overview.

Equisetum L. is the sole surviving representative of a major euphyllophyte clade with 15 living species and more than 370 million years of paleontological history. Species of Equisetum display a large number of novel features including mode of habitat acquisition, sporophyte architecture, leaf form, reproductive morphology, internal anatomy, vascular architecture, spore structure, gametophyte biology, gamete structure, and nucleotide sequences, which have been studied extensively for more than 200 years. The rich paleontological history of sphenopsids includes as many as four orders of extinct species, including at least two potential ancestral lineages for Equiestum. In contrast to many other clades of vascular plants, the results of molecular systematic studies on one hand, and of morphological systematics and paleontological investigations on the other, have yielded increasingly divergent hypotheses about the homologies of equisetophyte organs, the systematic relationships of equisetophytes, and the placement of horsetails in the Genealogy of Life. This symposium brings together current studies from across a broad spectrum of sphenopsid investigations. In so doing, we strive to more fully integrate systematic and developmental molecular results with those from morphology and anatomy of living and extinct species as well as traditional paleobotanical investigations for the purpose of reconciling discordant hypotheses generated across the entire spectrum of investigative disciplines.

1 - Oregon State University, Botany and Plant Pathology, 2082 Cordley Hall , Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

Keywords:
Equisetum
horsetail
evolution
structure and development
homology
systematics and phylogeny.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY03, Horsetails through form, space and time
Location: Oglethrope Auditorium/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 1st, 2016
Time: 1:30 PM
Number: SY03001
Abstract ID:569
Candidate for Awards:None