Elisabeth Reyes' comprehensive review of floral symmetry evolution in angiosperms was published this month in Taxon. In this paper, we reconstructed no less than 130 origins and 69 reversals of perianth zygomorphy (bilateral symmetry) in flowering plants, highlighting zygomorphy as even more labile than was previously thought! Although similar genes have been shown to be involved in floral symmetry at the genetic level, zygomorphy can take many different forms at the morphological level, as pictured above.

Reyes E, Sauquet H, Nadot S. 2016. Perianth symmetry changed at least 199 times in angiosperm evolution. Taxon: In press. link

I am very excited to present this short video explaining a few key facts and concepts on land plant evolution from a phylogenetic perspective!

This video is the product of a close collaboration with Tela Botanica and the professional illustrator and film crew from On Passe à l'Acte. The French version was originally produced for the MOOC Botanique and was just released today on the platform as part of Sequence 4 (To name and classify). The additional cost to produce this English version was covered by a grant from Institut Diversité Écologie et Évolution du Vivant (IDEEV).