FIGURE 3. Theoretical diagrams showing a in Aspidistra paucitepala (Asparagaceae), a new species with occurrence of the lowest tepal number in flowers of Asparagales

FIGURE 3. Theoretical diagrams showing a fraction of variation of flower groundplan in Aspidistra in the framework of the pentacyclic interpretation. Outer whorl tepals and outer whorl stamens red, inner whorl tepals and inner whorl stamens blue. Gynoecium is a black circle (individual carpels not shown as gynoecium diversity requires further investigation). There are some examples of species (based on data from protologues, Liang & Tamura 2000, Tillich 2005) below diagrams. Note that no attempt was made to make species lists exhaustive; trimerous and tetramerous flowers are found in many species of the genus. An alternative interpretation implies that all flowers illustrated here possess a single whorl of tepals and a single whorl of stamens.