Beyond pollination syndromes? Reflections on the classifications of Federico Delpino.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pollination syndromes are typically defined as idealized pollination modes based on a canonical set of traits. As such, they are often criticized as typological rather than empirical. These syndromes are attributed to the great Italian botanist Federico Delpino, who has borne some blame for their perceived shortcomings. Yet Delpino's original contribution, although it inspired the concept of pollination syndromes, differed significantly from it. What he proposed was, in contrast, an empirical classification of plants into floral functional types (FFTs), with pollination vector as the key trait.

Perspective

Delpino produced two functional type classifications. The first was published, approvingly, by H. Müller in 1873. This was the classification that, in the 20th

SUBMITTER: Cronk Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12784065 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature