Plant ontogeny : studies analyses and evolutionary implications This book delves into the many facets of the study of plant development and demonstrates the importance of ontogenetic studies in analyzing the structure function and evolution of glands structures and organs. The nine chapters that make up this book represent the state of the art of the scientific knowledge on the subject and bring unpublished contributions and important reviews of the most diverse developmental issues of plants compiled for the first time in a single book. Chapter 1 describes an unprecedented way secretory ducts form as the result of cavity coalescence in Malvaceae. Chapter 2 describes a case of homeoheterotopic alteration between nectaries and colleters in Passifloraceae and analyzes the evolution of leaf glands in the family. Chapter 3 emphasizes the importance of anatomical histochemical and ontogenetic studies in distinguishing colleters and nectaries in leaves of Sapium (Euphorbiaceae) and highlights the importance of ontogenetic studies for the observation of new colleters since many of them are deciduous. Chapter 4 reviews leaf development in vascular plants using traditional morphological and anatomical knowledge combined with the most recent data obtained in molecular studies. Chapter 5 reviews the morphogenesis and evolution of haustoria in mistletoes and evaluates the likely reasons that led to the change from root parasitism to aerial parasitism in Santalales. Chapter 6 demonstrates the importance of the meristematic activity and bud formation for the structure of inflorescences in Acanthaceae revealing the causes of their architectural diversity in genera such as Lepidagathis. Chapter 7 reveals the ontogenetic causes that resulted in varying degrees of flower reduction separation of sexes and their relationship with pollination in urticalean rosids. Chapter 8 uses the ontogenetic study of flowers to analyze the diversity of polyads in Leguminosae and their importance in the taxonomy of the family and the dispersal mode of pollen. Chapter 9 investigates the mode of formation of the pseudomonomerous gynoecia using Anacardiaceae as a model and discusses the evolution of this morphological reduction of gynoecium in other lineages of angiosperms Coalescent Cavities: A Novel Process of Secretory Duct Formation in Theobroma L. (Malvaceae) Tarcymara Barata Garcia Ellenhise Ribeiro Costa Tatiani Yuriko Souza Kikuchi Ana Cristina Andrade de Aguiar Dias and Diego Demarco Evidence of Homeoheterotopy in Leaf Glands of Passifloraceae: From Extrafloral Nectaries to Colleters Márcia Gonçalves Dias Rafael Felipe de Almeida and Poliana Cardoso Gustavson Anatomical Reevaluation and Novelties on the Leaf&nbsp; Marginal Tooth Glands in Sapium Glandulosum (L.) Morong. (Euphorbiaceae): The Importance of Distinguishing Colleters from Nectaries Renata Maria Strozi Alves Meira José Danizete Brás Miranda and Ítalo Antônio Cotta Coutinho Leaf Development in Vascular Plants Gladys Flávia de Albuquerque Melo de Pinna and Rafael Cruz Morphogenesis and Evolution of Mistletoes Haustoria Luiza Teixeira Costa Gilberto Ocampo and Gregório Ceccantini Inflorescence Architectures in Lepidagathis Willd. (Acanthaceae) as a Result of Differential Meristematic Activity Yasmin Vidal Hirao Mariana Maciel Monteiro and Diego Demarco Development Resolves the Uncommon Floral Construction of Urticalean Rosids Simone Pádua Teixeira Giseli Donizete Pedersoli Flávia Maria Leme Viviane Gonçalves Leite and João Paulo Basso Alves Ontogeny Reflects the Structural Diversity of Polyads in Legumes Liana Carneiro Capucho and Simone Pádua Teixeira The Development of Pseudomonomerous Gynoecia: Anacardiaceae (Subfamily Anacardioideae) as a Case Study Elisabeth Dantas Tölke and Diego Demarco.