In sexually dimorphic plants, resource allocation to reproduction often differs between sex morphs. In gynodioecious species, i.e. coexisting hermaphrodite and female plants within a population, females often produce more fruits than hermaphrodites. Since fruit production is costlier than flower production, hermaphrodites and females may regulate flower and fruit production differently in respo...

Some pollination systems, such as buzz-pollination, are associated with floral morphologies that require a close physical interaction between floral sexual organs and insect visitors. In these systems, a pollinator's size relative to the flower may be an important feature determining whether the visitor touches both male and female sexual organs and thus transfers pollen between plants efficien...

Seed production and patterns of sex allocation were studied in female and hermaphroditic plants in two gynodioecious populations of Geranium sylvaticum (Geraniaceae). Females produced more flower buds and seeds than hermaphrodites in one of the two study populations. The other female traits measured (pistil biomass, seed number per fruit, individual seed mass) did not differ between the gender ...

Habitat degradation can reduce or even prevent the reproduction of previously abundant plant species. To develop appropriate management strategies, we need to understand the reasons for reduced recruitment in degraded ecosystems. The dioecious coco de mer palm (Lodoicea maldivica) produces by far the largest seeds of any plant. It is a keystone species in an ancient palm forest that occurs only...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Monoecious plants have the capacity to allocate resources separately to male and female functions more easily than hermaphrodites. This can be advantageous against environmental stresses such as leaf herbivory. However, studies showing effects of herbivory on male and female functions and on the interaction with the plant's pollinators are limited, particularly in tropical p...

BACKGROUND The dioecious system is relatively rare in plants. Shrub willow is an annual flowering dioecious woody plant, and possesses many characteristics that lend it as a great model for tracking the missing pieces of sex determination evolution. To gain a global view of the genes differentially expressed in the male and female shrub willows and to develop a database for further studies, we ...

Jatropha curcas belongs to family of Euphorbiaceae, and is an important biological tree species for diesel production. The current descriptions of the phenotypic traits for male and female flowers are not comprehensive and there have been no reports about the process of J. curcas from pollen germination on stigma to pollen tubes conducting fertilization after entering the ovary and ovule. To as...

To trace the fate of individual pollen grains through pollination processes, we determined genotypes of single pollen grains deposited on Hemerocallis stigmas in an experimental mixed-species array. Hemerocallis fulva, pollinated by butterflies, has diurnal, reddish and unscented flowers, and H. citrina, pollinated by hawkmoths, has nocturnal, yellowish and sweet scent flowers. We observed poll...

Temperate woody perennials survive to low temperatures in winter entering a dormant stage. Dormancy is not just a survival strategy, since chilling accumulation is required for proper flowering and arbitrates species adaptation to different latitudes. In spite of the fact that chilling requirements have been known for two centuries, the biological basis behind remain elusive. Since chilling acc...