|
|
||||||||
Reproductive Biology |
2Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apartado 1095, E-41080 Sevilla, Spain; 3Department of Botany, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 3B2
Stigma-height dimorphism is a sexual polymorphism in which plant populations are composed of two floral morphs that differ significantly in style length but not anther position. The morphs exhibit approach and reverse herkogamy, floral designs that in most species typically occur as monomorphic conditions. We investigated the floral biology of stigma-height dimorphism in the Mediterranean geophyte Narcissus papyraceus (Amaryllidaceae) in an effort to understand the evolutionary forces maintaining stylar polymorphism. Our survey of 66 populations in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco indicated that 56% were dimorphic with the long-styled morph at an average frequency of 0.79. The remaining 44% of populations sampled were monomorphic for the long-styled morph. In dimorphic populations there was a significant positive relation between population size and the frequency of the short-styled morph. Controlled pollinations demonstrated that N. papyraceus is self-sterile with no significant differences in female fertility between intra- and intermorph crosses. Prior self-pollination reduced seed set in flowers that were subsequently cross-pollinated. Estimates of mating patterns using allozyme markers in eight populations indicated that N. papyraceus is largely outcrossing (mean tm = 0.81) with no significant differences between monomorphic and dimorphic populations or style morphs. Stigma-height dimorphism in N. papyraceus is maintained in populations by insect-mediated cross-pollination with biased morph ratios and stylar monomorphism likely resulting from the combined influence of the inheritance of the polymorphism, morph-specific differences in assortative mating and founder effects.
Key Words: Amaryllidaceae assortative and disassortative mating founder events heterostyly Narcissus papyraceus outcrossing rates self-incompatibility stigma-height dimorphism style-morph ratios
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
A. Quesada-Aguilar, S. Kalisz, and T.-L. Ashman Flower morphology and pollinator dynamics in Solanum carolinense (Solanaceae): implications for the evolution of andromonoecy Am. J. Botany, August 1, 2008; 95(8): 974 - 984. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. M. Sanchez, V. Ferrero, and L. Navarro A New Approach to the Quantification of Degree of Reciprocity in Distylous (sensu lato) Plant Populations Ann. Bot., July 11, 2008; (2008) mcn111v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. W. Graham and S. C. H. Barrett Phylogenetic reconstruction of the evolution of stylar polymorphisms in Narcissus (Amaryllidaceae) Am. J. Botany, July 1, 2004; 91(7): 1007 - 1021. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |