Occurrence and Prevention of Delayed Autonomous Selfing in Salvia umbratica (Lamiaceae).

ABSTRACT: Delayed autonomous selfing (DAS) provides reproductive assurance under conditions of pollinator and/or pollen-limitation. Few plant species have been investigated to determine if DAS is terminated when a flower is sufficiently pollinated by a pollen vector, thereby saving plant resources for other purposes. We examined this possibility in bumblebee-pollinated Salvia umbratica. We first showed that DAS resulting in high fruit set (100%) and seed set (>80%) per flower occurred in the absence of insect pollinators by means of style recurvature and was completed in 94% of flowers 72 h after they opened. In contrast, in flowers pollinated immediately after opening, DAS was prevented by corollas dropping away before styles recurve toward the upper thecae. We next showed that hand-pollinat

SUBMITTER: Xiao HW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8351595 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature