Morphological development of Geissois pruinosa (Cunoniaceae) from seed to adult, and the expression of plesiomorphic characters in seedlings

Marked morphological changes occur during development from young seedlings to adults in Geissois pruinosa. At successive stages, leaves change from simple to trifoliolate and finally to 5-foliolate, palmately compound leaves, the margin of the blades changes from dentate to entire, the venation from craspedodromous to brochidodromous, and the stipules switch at about the 7th level from four free lateral ones per node to two fused intrapetiolar ones. Stems and leaves in young seedlings have sparse, erect hairs, but are glabrous in adults. Scattered and often incomplete information on other Cunoniaceae suggest that differences between seedlings and adults in other genera are generally less pronounced. Some seedling characters of G. pruinosa (including toothed leaflet margins and free lateral stipules) occur in the adult foliage of some of its close relatives (the genera Lamanonia and Pseudoweinmannia and Geissois in Australia) and are plesiomorphic within this clade.