Abstract: The petal conical epidermal cells of angiosperm which directly have effect on colour，smell，temperature，wettability and optical function of petal surface，optimize the specific interactions between petals and pollinators. The petal conical epidermal cells are determined by the Mixta gene. The Mixta which originated from the petal of Antirrhinum encodes a MYB transcription factor. AmMYBML1 and Mixta stem from the same ancestor gene replication. They can both guide the differentiation of conical epidermal cells and trichomes on different tissue of plants. The differences of both gene expressions decide on their different functions. This review elaborates the research progress on the mechanism of petal conical epidermal cells formation and attraction to pollinating insects.

Key words: petal, conical epidermal cell, biological property, trichome, Mixta gene, expression regulation