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THE GIANT LOBELIAS: TOXICITY, INFLORESCENCE AND TREE–BUILDING IN THE CAMPANULACEAE
Author(s) -
MABBERLEY D. J.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1975.tb01399.x
Subject(s) - campanulaceae , biology , inflorescence , botany , herbivore , rainforest
SUMMARY An hypothesis on the origin of (i) the distribution of alkaloids and thorns, (ii) the position of the inflorescence, and (iii) arborescent forms in the Campanulaceae, considered in the light of recent studies on Lobelia sect. Rhynchopetalum (Fres.) Benth. & Hook, f., is proposed. It is suggested that the primitive Campanulaceae were pachycaul forest plants and that it is possible to argue that on the continents those with alkaloids ( Lobelioideae ) were tolerant of browsing herbivores until the rise of alkaloid tolerance in herbaceous mammals when only armed forms could survive in lowland rainforest. In the Lobelioideae. , the terminal inflorescence is considered more primitive than the lateral which can be derived from the lowermost branches of the terminal with the onset of periodic inception of fertile primordia. In this way, non‐hapaxanthic shoots and the capacity for ‘tree‐building’ arise.