In theEudesmieae B eucalypts and inEucalyptus caesia, the perianth of the mature flower consists of a single, anatomically continuous, opercular structure that is crowned by the tips of the original free and separate calycine and corolline whorls. Ontogenetic and comparative evidence supports the hypothesis that this operculum is mostly corolline in composition, and that the calycine parts have been elevated distally onto the dorsal surface. In theEudesmieae B eucalypts this condition appears to be due to precocious initiation of the corolline primordia, followed by expansion and continuity of their growth centres which incorporates the areas at or below the base of the still differentiating calycine whorl. InEucalyptus caesia the corolline primordia are not precocious, but a similar situation is effected by a seemingly retarded increase in receptacle diameter relative to lateral expansion of the corolline growth centre(s). In these two examples the same final perianth form apparently derives from two different sets of growth processes which, nonetheless, result in the same allometric relationships within the developing flower. Although identical at maturity, the operculum form in these two taxa is best described in terms of convergence, rather than homology.