Gender variation of sequential inflorescences in a monoecious plant Sagittaria trifolia (Alismataceae).

ABSTRACT: In protogynous plants, female flowers of early blooming plants are at a reproductive disadvantage because they cannot set fruit due to the lack of available pollen. To study this phenomenon, gender expression of the monoecious herb Sagittaria trifolia was investigated over the entire flowering season in two field and two cultivated populations in Hubei and Hunan Provinces, China. In racemes of S. trifolia, flowers open sequentially from bottom to top, with female flowers opening first followed by male flowers. This creates a temporal separation of sexes in the species. Under field conditions small plants are often male, with production of both male and female flowers increasing with plant size. Femaleness increased among sequential inflorescences since female flower production increased wh

SUBMITTER: Huang SQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4240452 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature