Topic
Cauliflory
About: Cauliflory is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6 publications have been published within this topic receiving 100 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: The Putranjivaceae is an enigmatic family, notable for being the only lineage outside the Capparales to possess the glucosinolate biochemical pathway, which forms the basis of an induced chemical defense system against herbivores (the "mustard oil bomb").
Abstract: The Putranjivaceae is an enigmatic family, notable for being the only lineage outside the Capparales to possess the glucosinolate biochemical pathway, which forms the basis of an induced chemical defense system against herbivores (the "mustard oil bomb"). We investigated the pollination biology and floral scent chemistry of Drypetes natalensis (Putranjivaceae), a dioecious subcanopy tree with flowers borne on the stem (cauliflory). Flowering male trees were more abundant than female ones and produced about 10-fold more flowers. Flowers of both sexes produce copious amounts of nectar on disc-like nectaries accessible to short-tongued insects. The main flower visitors observed were cetoniid beetles, bees, and vespid wasps. Pollen load analysis indicated that these insects exhibit a high degree of fidelity to D. natalensis flowers. Insects effectively transfer pollen from male to female plants resulting in about 31% of female flowers developing fruits with viable seeds. Cetoniid beetles showed significant orientation toward the scent of D. natalensis flowers in a Y-maze olfactometer. The scents of male and female flowers are similar in chemical composition and dominated by fatty acid derivatives and isothiocyanates from the glucosinolate pathway. The apparent constitutive emission of isothiocyanates raises interesting new questions about their functional role in flowers.
25 citations
1 Mar 1986
TL;DR: It is concluded that fruitfulness in single-stemmed plants improves with the growth rate, but in branched trees a balance has to be struck between growth and fruiting: moreover in the latter specific stimuli are usually needed to trigger flower initiation and/or bloom, which leads to a different set of research priorities for the two classes of crops.
Abstract: The classification reveals a pattern in the confusing multitude of tree crops; its usefulness is enhanced because of similarities in ecology and fruitfulness of the species within a class. The contrast between the fruitful, continuously growing single-stemmed species and the rather unfruitful, rhythmically growing branched species is striking. The ecology and husbandry of the two sub-classes of single-stemmed species and their effect on fruitfulness can be described in simple terms, since fruiting is closely linked with growth. The branched species form a large and diverse class. The relationships between branching and rhythmic growth and between branching and floral differentiation are briefly considered. It is concluded that fruitfulness in single-stemmed plants improves with the growth rate, but in branched trees a balance has to be struck between growth and fruiting: moreover in the latter specific stimuli are usually needed to trigger flower initiation and/or bloom. This leads to a different set of research priorities for the two classes of crops. In virtually all branched tree crops grown for their fruit, vegetative growth and sexual differentiation are separated to some extent, either spatially or temporally. Spatial separation finds expression in cauliflory and shoot dimorphism; some characteristics of the species in these two categories are given. Temporal separation is effected through asynchronous or synchronous growth rhythms; sexual differentiation takes place during a quiescent phase in shoot growth. As the growth rhythm changes with tree age and degree of synchrony depends on the climate, further classification of this large category is difficult, the more so since far too little is known about the growth rhythm of most species. Concerted efforts to describe the phenology of these species are strongly recommended.
19 citations
TL;DR: The breeding system of Anagyris foetida, one of the few shrubs that blooms at this time, is investigated, and the number of seeds per fruit under natural pollination was positively correlated with the total rainfall during the fruiting period, and significantly influenced the percentage of fruit weight represented by the pericarp.
17 citations
TL;DR: Contrary to the prevailing view of pollination systems where generalized systems predict equivalency between floral traits and pollinators, it was found that different pollinators pollinated the 13 species of trees, that floral characters of different trees did not overlap in multidimensional phenotype space, and that few Species of trees were visited by more than two pollinator groups.
Abstract: The island of Madagascar ranks second to the neotropics in diversity of Bignoniaceae. Tribe Coleeae (Bignoniaceae) is a monophyletic group of tropical trees endemic to Madagascar and surrounding islands. The Masoala assemblage of Coleeae, in northeastern Madagascar, utilizes four mechanisms for avoiding competition via niche specialization: (1) morphologically via characters that comprise syndromes, explaining part of the pattern in this system – although the syndrome concept is not perfect; (2) spatially via vertical stratification and potentially pollen placement; (3) temporally via phenological stagger; (4) ethologically via flowering duration and display. The 13 sympatric species of understory treelets and canopy trees did receive low flower visitor numbers. Contrary to the prevailing view of pollination systems where generalized systems predict equivalency between floral traits and pollinators, I found that different pollinators pollinated the 13 species of trees, that floral characters of different trees did not overlap in multidimensional phenotype space, and that few species of trees were visited by more than two pollinator groups. The use of multiple niches is potentially important in understanding both the origin and maintenance of tropical tree diversity.
15 citations
TL;DR: It is proposed that taller flowers attain higher fitness due to a higher degree of accessibility and conspicuity to foraging bats, and that proximity to the ground, associated to herbaceous or bushy surrounding vegetation, may be an obstacle to the foraging of nectar bats.
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2009 | 1 |
| 2008 | 2 |
| 2007 | 1 |
| 1986 | 1 |