XVI International Botanical Congess
This paper reviews gynoecial characters in lilioid monocots in the context of a revised classification. Most 'primitive' monocots have superior ovaries and often free carpels. Asparagales have three fused carpels with a single style distinctly demarcated from the ovary. Septal nectaries are present in many Asparagales, although absent from some early-branching asparagoids, similar variation occurs in Dioscoreales. In Liliales, the nectary has 'shifted' to the tepal bases, and carpels are often incompletely fused, forming three separate styles. Epigyny has evolved several times in Lilianae, with at least one reversal to hypogyny. The distribution of this character indicates that epigyny is a synapomorphy for Asparagales, witha reversal in the 'higher' Asparagales.