TAXON 63 (5) • October 2014: 1103–1111 Ronse De Craene & al. • Floral formulae METHODS AND TECHNIQUES Understanding the structure of flowers—The wonderful tool of floral formulae: A response to Prenner & al. Louis Ronse De Craene,1 Akitoshi Iwamoto,2 Kester Bull-Hereñu,3,4 Patricia Dos Santos,1 Javier A. Luna1,5 & Jennifer Farrar1,5 1 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, Scotland, U.K. 2 Department of Biology, Tokyo Gakugei University, Tokyo, Japan 3 Escuela de Pedagogía en Biología y Ciencias, Universidad Central de Chile, Santiago, Chile 4 Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile 5 Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JH, U.K. Author for correspondence: Louis Ronse De Craene,
[email protected] ORCID: LRDC, http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8333-4596; AI, http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6492-495 DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12705/635.35 Abstract This paper is a discussion and elaboration of a paper by Prenner & al. (2010), entitled “Floral formulae updated for routine inclusion in formal taxonomic descriptions”. The aim of the Prenner paper was to promote the use of floral formulae in botany and to reach a consensus among botanists for best practice. An important purpose of floral formulae is to induce users to observe and describe flowers accurately. It is proposed that additional information on anther, ovule, style and stigma should be included. Also, only visible organs should be included in a formula and theoretical speculations should be illustrated with floral diagrams, which are complementary to formulae, unless there is good reason to include absent organs.