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Plant Biol (Stuttg) 2001; 3(6): 637-641
DOI: 10.1055/s-2001-19369
Original Paper
Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart ·New York

Causes of Fruit Set Variation in Polygonatum odoratum (Liliaceae)

J. Guitián 1 , P. Guitián 1 , M. Medrano 1, 2
  • 1 Laboratorio de Botánica, Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Universidad de Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  • 2 Current address: Dp. Biología Evolutiva, Estación Biológica de Doñana, C.S.I.C., Sevilla, Spain
Further Information

Publication History

December 12, 2000

October 31, 2001

Publication Date:
02 January 2002 (online)

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Abstract

In Polygonatum odoratum (Liliaceae), flowers located distally within the flowering shoot typically exhibit lower fruit set than flowers located proximally. In this study, experiments were performed to investigate whether the lower fruit set of distal flowers is due to pollen limitation, resource competition or “architectural” effects. We found that (1) fruit set and mean number of ovules per flower decline within the flowering shoot from proximal to distal position; (2) variations in the amount of pollen received do not explain the observed differences in fruit set; (3) the fruit set of the most distal flowers was significantly increased by removal of other flower buds in the flowering shoot just before flower opening, indicating that fruit set in these flowers is resource-limited; and (4) removal of proximal flowers increased the fruit set of later flowers to levels similar to those of early flowers of control shoots, arguing against the architectural effects hypothesis.

Key words

Polygonatum odoratum - pollen limitation - resource competition - architectural effects - fruit set

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J. Guitián

Departamento de Biología Vegetal
Universidad de Santiago
Laboratorio de Botánica (Farmacia)

Campus Sur s/n
15782 Santiago de Compostela
Spain

Email: bvjguiti@usc.es

Section Editor: G. Gottsberger