Functional diversity and convergence in the evolution of plant reproductive structures

Structures that simultaneously perform many functional roles are likely to show a variety of morphological solutions to these demands, and thus probably exhibit high morphological disparity. In contrast, specialization for a few simple functions should result in a more limited suite of morphologies. We explore this idea using lycopsid reproductive structures, which, throughout their history, have performed a limited set of functional roles compared with the reproductive structures of other plant groups such as seed plants.