Superman is a plant gene in Arabidopsis thaliana, that plays a role in controlling the boundary between stamen and carpel development in a flower.
[3] Homologous genes are known in the petunia[4] and snapdragon,[5] which are also involved in flower development, although in both cases there are important differences from the functioning in Arabidopsis.
Arabidopsis thaliana flowers develop in four whorls, which are concentric groups of cells branching off of the growing meristem.
A mutation which completely removes superman gene function would result in flowers that carry extra stamens, replacing the pistils which would normally be developing in the fourth whorl.
This methylation brings about the Clark Kent (clk) epialleles, which are a set of altered versions of the Superman gene lacking function.