This is an old revision of this page, as edited by SmackBot (talk | contribs) at 08:17, 1 December 2006 (Date the unreferenced tag (approx) using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 08:17, 1 December 2006 by SmackBot (talk | contribs) (Date the unreferenced tag (approx) using AWB)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) | This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Tepal" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2006) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In a general sense, a tepal is an element of the perianth of a flower, such as a petal or sepal. The perianth comprises the outer, sterile whorls of a flower. The term tepal is usually used when all segments of a perianth are of similar shape and color (that is, undifferentiated). This happens in the family Magnoliaceae and a number of other primitive flowering plants such as the Amborellaceae and Calycanthaceae.
Merosity
Merosity is a property of whorls of floral perianths that relates how many tepals a whorl of that particular plant has. Types of merosity, according to number of tepals in a perianth whorl, include:
These nouns for the different types of merosity are formed by a prefix derived from Ancient Greek (e.g. tetra- for four tepals) and the suffixed root, -mery, which is derived from Greek meros meaning "part".
Categories: