Floral traits that reduce self-pollination in hermaphroditic plants have usually been interpreted as mechanisms that limit the genetic consequences of self-fertilization. However, the avoidance of sexual conflict between female and male function (self-interference) may also represent an important selection pressure for the evolution of floral traits, particularly in self-incompatible species. H...

Cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) is a subtropical tree crop that belongs to the Angiosperm family Annonaceae, which also includes sugar apple and soursop. Cherimoya flowers are pollinated by beetles and characterized by a marked protoginous dichogamy. In regions where cherimoya is now cultivated, the lack of native efficient pollinators forces the implementation of hand-pollination, thus incr...

Phytophthora cinnamomi causes a severe root rot in avocado, Persea americana. Breeding tolerant rootstocks is thought to be the most promising method for phytophthora root rot disease control but breeding avocado is challenging. The avocado flowering syndrome (synchronous protogynous dichogamy), combined with high flowering and low fruit set, render controlled pollination exceedingly difficult....

†Background Most angiosperms present flowers in inflorescences, which play roles in reproduction, primarily related to pollination, beyond those served by individual flowers alone. An inflorescence’s overall reproductive contribution depends primarily on the three-dimensional arrangement of the floral canopy and its dynamics during its flowering period. These features depend in turn on characte...

BACKGROUND Schima wallichii is a highly valuable tree of tropical forest in north-east Himalaya region that grows naturally in a wide range of altitudes between 750 and 2400 m asl with varying environments. Flowering phenology of tropical tree species at population level is generally ignored and therefore a detailed knowledge of flowering and fruiting patterns of important multipurpose tree spe...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Unlike other taxa in Juglandaceae or in closely related families, which are anemophilous, Platycarya strobilacea has been suggested to be entomophilous. In Juglandaceae, Juglans and Carya show heterodichogamy, a reproductive strategy in which two morphs coexist in a population and undergo synchronous reciprocal sex changes. However, there has been no study focusing on hetero...

self pollinated cultivars of hazelnut are limited mainly due to dichogamy and self- incompability. to enhance productivity of hazelnut orchards, identification and selection of suitable polinizers are necessary. to meet this quest, collection and evaluation of iranian hazelnut germplasm have began by department of horticulture research, seed and plant improvement institute, iran, since 1994. ha...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS From Darwin's time onward, biologists have thought about adaptation as evolution toward optimal trait values, but they have not usually assessed the relative importance of the distinct causes of deviations from optima. This problem is investigated here by measuring adaptive inaccuracy (phenotypic deviation from the optimum), using flower pollination as an adaptive system. ...