The Floral Syndrome and Its Pollination in Cynanchum otophyllum (Asclepiadaceae)
Received date: 2008-02-11
Online published: 2009-02-25
This paper studied on the floral syndrome of Cynanchum otophyllum, visiting insects and their foraging behavior. The results showed that the floral morphologies were complex . Two separate ovaries were united by their styles to form a gynostegium with anthers . The stigmatic surfaces were enclosed by the tightly abutting wings of adjacent anthers to produce five stigmatic chambers . C. otophyllum possessed pollinia , which permited the transfer of hundreds of pollen grains at a time . Honeybees ( Apis cerana Fabricius) were primary pollinators . The process of C. otophyllum pollination was : ( 1) removal of a pollinarium: when the groove in the corpusculum catched on mouthparts or legs of honeybees and was forcibly pulled from the flower, and (2) insertion of a pollinium: when a pollinium lodged in a stigmatic chamber . Following successful
insertion , the pollens germinated within the stigmatic chamber and pollen tubes subsequently grew down the stylar
canal and finally entered the ovaries . The durable covering of pollinia allowed a long residence time on pollen viability , so
the pollen could remain a relatively high viability in the flower period . Stigma receptivity , however , decreased gradually
over the seven-day life span of flowers .
Key words: Cynanchum otophyllum
WANG Ding-Kang1 , 2 , SUN Gui-Fang3 , ZHAI Shu-Hua2 , GUO Li-Hong2 , XIAO Feng-Hui1 . The Floral Syndrome and Its Pollination in Cynanchum otophyllum (Asclepiadaceae)[J]. Plant Diversity, 2009 , 31(1) : 8 -14 . DOI: 10.3724 SP.J.1143.2009.07329
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