Flower bud abortion influences clonal growth and sexual dimorphism in the understorey dioecious shrub Aucuba japonica (Cornaceae).

ABSTRACT: Sexual differences were investigated to determine the significance of flower bud abortion in the dioecious shrub Aucuba japonica Thunb. The mean number of flowers per inflorescence and the mean number of flowering inflorescences (as opposed to aborted inflorescences) per individual were greater in males than in females in 1997 and 1998. Reproductive investment by males was 0.4-times (1997) and 1.4-times (1998) that by females. In addition, females aborted 30.9% (1997) and 42.7% (1998) of their total flower buds without blooming, whereas no male flower buds aborted. One of the architectural traits of this shrub is that in the year that a flower bud is produced at the shoot apex, the shoot will branch into two or more shoots. Thus, there was less sexual difference in the number of current sh

SUBMITTER: Abe T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4233831 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature