A new species, Thismiahongkongensis S.S.Mar & R.M.K.Saunders, is described from Hong Kong. It is most closely related to Thismiabrunonis Griff. from Myanmar, but differs in the number of flowers per inflorescence, the colour of the perianth tube, the length of the filaments, and the shape of the stigma lobes. We also provide inferences on the pollination ecology and seed dispersal of the new sp...

The effect of exogenous application of various levels of -1 ethrel (500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 μmol l ); Gibberrelic Acid (GA 15, 30, 45 3 ; -1 -1 and 60 μmol l ) and Maleic hydrazide (MH; 200, 400, 600 and 800 μmol l ) on sex expression of bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria Molina) plants cv. Faisalabad Round was investigated under field conditions in National Agricultural Research Centre, Islama...

The Caricaceae is a small family of tropical trees and herbs in which most species are dioecious. In the present study, we extend our previous work on dioecy in the Caricaceae, characterising the morphological variation in sexual expression in flowers of the dioecious tree Jacaratia mexicana. We found that, in J. mexicana, female plants produce only pistillate flowers, while male plants are sex...

Male plants of spinach (Spinacea oleracea L.) senesce following flowering. It has been suggested that nutrient drain by male flowers is insufficient to trigger senescence. The partitioning of radiolabelled photosynthate between vegetative and reproductive tissue was compared in male (staminate) versus female (pistillate) plants. After the start of flowering staminate plants senesce 3 weeks earl...

Vegetation control with herbicides is a common practice in pecan [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch] orchards that benefits both non-bearing and bearing trees. However, the appropriate size for the vegetation-free area surrounding bearing trees had not been resolved. Vegetation-free circles centered on the Tree 0, 0.9, 1.8, 3.7, and 7.3m in diameter were established at planting and tree pe...

Cleome viscosa L., an annual rainy season weed, is cosmopolitan in distribution. Two naturally growing populations of C. viscosa from Jammu, J & K, India have been studied for floral variation at an intra-plant level and its possible role in its life cycle. Plants of both the populations bear flowers which exhibit tremendous intra-plant variation in size (large and small) and sex (hermaphrodite...

Somaclonal variation in plants regenerated by organogenesis from long-term cultured calluses of two diploid staminate genotypes of Asparagus officinalis cv. Argenteuil was characterized by plant phenotype, ploidy, meiotic behavior, pollen viability, fruit and seed set, and AFLP profiles. Phenotypic deviations from the donors were detected in foliage color, flower size, and cladode and flower mo...

Active pollination has evolved four times in brood site mutualisms. When is active, the pollinator's behaviour specifically evolves to ensure flower fertilisation. In functionally dioecious Ficus species, male figs host pollinating wasp larvae, while wasps cannot breed female because styles are longer than ovipositor. Here we investigate hispida. We show that figs, every time laid an egg into a...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Eriocaulaceae (Poales) is currently divided in two subfamilies: Eriocauloideae, which comprises two genera and Paepalanthoideae, with nine genera. The floral anatomy of Actinocephalus polyanthus, Leiothrix fluitans, Paepalanthus chlorocephalus, P. flaccidus and Rondonanthus roraimae was studied here. The flowers of these species of Paepalanthoideae are unisexual, and form ca...