Pollination strategies in Cretan Arum lilies

Sexual mass allocation in species with inflorescences as pollination units: a comparison between Arum italicum and Arisaema (Araceae).

Sex allocation models predict that cosexuality is stabilized by high allocation to attractive structures in pollen-limited species or by high allocation to shared structures that contribute to both genders. High investment in unilateral fixed costs favor the evolution of dioecy or gender change. With these predictions in mind, I studied sexual mass allocation at flowering in the monoecious Arum...

The design of trapping devices in pollination traps of the genus Arum (Araceae) is related to insect type

Pollinators have long been known to select for floral traits, but the nature of this relationship has been little investigated in trap pollination systems. We investigated the trapping devices of 15 Arum spp. and compared them with the types of insects trapped. Most species shared a similar general design of trap chamber walls covered in downward-pointing papillate cells, lacunose cells in the ...

Flowering dynamics in Arum italicum (Araceae): relative role of inflorescence traits, flowering synchrony, and pollination context on fruit initiation.

We studied the relative role of inflorescence traits, flowering synchrony, and pollination context for infructescence and fruit initiation in two Spanish populations of Arum italicum, a species in which inflorescences are the pollination unit. In this species, a specialized inflorescence organ, the appendix, is important for pollinator attraction. However, the short floral longevity and the pro...

Endothermy of dynastine scarab beetles (Cyclocephala colasi) associated with pollination biology of a thermogenic arum lily (Philodendron solimoesense).

Cyclocephala colasi beetles are facultative endotherms that spend most of their adult lives inside the inflorescences of Philodendron solimoesense, where ambient temperature (T(a)) averages about 28 degrees C due to floral thermogenesis. Measurements of respiration within a range of T(a) showed that active beetles became spontaneously endothermic at T(a) below 28 degrees C but were rarely endot...

Zephyr Lilies: Simple Beauty Belies Complex Biology