PREMISE OF THE STUDY Self incompatibility (SI) in rare plants presents a unique challenge-SI protects plants from inbreeding depression, but requires a sufficient number of mates and xenogamous pollination. Does SI persist in an endangered polyploid? Is pollinator visitation sufficient to ensure reproductive success? Is there evidence of inbreeding/outbreeding depression? We characterized the m...

In plants, apomixis results in the production of clonal offspring via seed and can provide reproductive assurance for isolated individuals. However, many apomicts require pollination to develop functional endosperm for successful seed set (pseudogamy) and therefore risk pollination-limitation, particularly in self-incompatible species that require heterospecific pollen. We used microsatellite p...

Programmed cell death (PCD) has been found to be induced after pollination both in papillar cells and in self-incompatible pollen in the olive (Olea europaea L.). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) are known to be produced in the pistil and pollen during pollination but their contribution to PCD has so far remained elusive. The possible role of ROS and NO was investigated in ol...

 Gregor Mendel. Conducted hybridization experiments on garden peas for seven years (1856 – 1863) and proposed laws of inheritance.  Mendel conducted artificial pollination/cross pollination experiments using several true-breeding pea lines.  A true breeding line is one that, having undergone continuous self-pollination for several generations.  Mendel selected 14 true-breeding peas’ plant v...

The relative frequencies of functional traits of plant species show notable spatial variation, which is often related to environmental factors. Pollination type (insect-, wind- or self-pollination) is a critical trait for plant reproduction and provision of ecosystem services. Here, we mapped the distribution of pollination types across Germany by combining databases on plant distribution and p...

Management of small plant populations requires an understanding of their reproductive ecology, particularly in terms of sensitivity to Allee effects. To address this issue, we explored how components of pollen transfer and pollination success of individual plants varied among 36 populations of the self-compatible moth-pollinated orchid Satyrium longicauda in South Africa. Mean fruit set, seed p...

To increase our knowledge about mating-system evolution, we need to understand the relationship between specific floral traits and mating system. Species of Collinsia (Plantaginaceae) vary extensively in mating system; this variation is associated with variation in floral morphology and development and with the timing of self-pollination. Counterintuitively, large-flowered, more outcrossing spe...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Although some taxonomic studies in the genus Trigonella have been conducted, there has been no concerted effort to study the breeding system. This paper examines the floral structure and pollination system in a population of T. balansae, an annual pasture legume. METHODS Floral morphology, hand and vector pollination, stigma receptivity, pollen tube growth, using scanning ...

Wind pollination was experimentally demonstrated in Linanthus parviflorus (Polemoniaceae), a predominantly beefly-pollinated, self-incompatible annual. Seed set in plants enclosed in mesh tents that excluded pollinators but allowed airborne pollen flow provided evidence for wind pollination, and the extent of seed set due to wind pollination was compared to that in open-pollinated controls and ...

Successful automatic self-pollination in flowering plants is dependent on the correct development of reproductive organs. In the stamen, the appropriate growth of the filament, which largely depends on the mechanical properties of the cell wall, is required to position the anther correctly close to the stigma at the pollination stage. Xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolases (XTHs) are a fami...