Historians of science have often neglected the eighteenth century because it lacks famous figureheads like Isaac Newton or Charles Darwin, yet this was a crucial period when science started to become established and gain prestige, writes Patricia Fara in a new book*. With their Enlightenment contemporaries, Carl Linnaeus in Sweden and Joseph Banks in Britain illustrate how scientific research w...

In plants whose flowers develop in a sequence, different flowers may exhibit temporal variation in pollen donation and receipt such that the fitness contributions through male and female functions can vary among flowers. Dichogamy, or directional pollinator movements within inflorescences, can create situations where flowers in different stages in the sequence may differ in the numbers of flowe...

A novel rapid, simple and solvent-free method was developed for determination of the volatile compounds from the flowers of Chimonanthus praecox Link using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The SPME conditions were firstly optimized and applied to sampling of the volatile compounds emitted from living Chimonanthus praecox L. flower...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Andromonoecy, as a breeding system, has generated a considerable body of theory in terms of sexual selection, but extended records comparing the performance of pollen grains from staminate versus hermaphrodite flowers are still sparse. The objective in this study was to elucidate the role of staminate flowers in the andromonoecious breeding system of olive (Olea europaea). ...

Predators of pollinators can influence pollination services and plant fitness via both consumptive (reducing pollinator density) and non-consumptive (altering pollinator behaviour) effects. However, a better knowledge of the mechanisms underlying behaviourally mediated indirect effects of predators is necessary to properly understand their role in community dynamics. We used the tripartite rela...

Several fungal plant pathogens induce 'pseudoflowers' on their hosts to facilitate insect-mediated transmission of gametes and spores. When spores must be transmitted to host flowers to complete the fungal life cycle, we predict that pseudoflowers should evolve traits that mimic flowers and attract the most effective vectors in the flower-visiting community. We quantified insect visitation to f...

Acacia constricta, "WHITETHORN ACACIA" Drought tolerant, deciduous, Southwest native small tree or large shrub w/ spiny branches & tiny, feathery leaves; flowers are fragrant, yellow bottlebrushes produced summer. [7] (H*W*S*) Acacia greggii, "CATCLAW ACACIA" Drought tolerant, deciduous small tree/large shrub w/ spiny branches & tiny, ferny leaves; flowers are fragrant, creamy yellow bottle-bru...