Floral biology and late-acting self-incompatibility in Jacaranda racemosa (Bignoniaceae)
Nelson S. BittencourtA Departamento de Zoologia e Botância, IBILCE, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Campus de São José do Rio Preto, Rua Cristóvão Colombo, no. 2265, CEP 15054-000, Jardim Nazareth, São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.
B Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Caixa Postal 6109, CEP 13083-970, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
C Corresponding author. Email: nesbitte@ibilce.unesp.br
Australian Journal of Botany 54(3) 315-324 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT04221
Submitted: 22 December 2004 Accepted: 8 August 2005 Published: 15 May 2006
Abstract
Breeding-system studies have been conducted with 38 of the approximately800 species of Bignoniaceae, and self-incompatibility was found in 31 of these. In species for which the site of self-incompatibility barrier was studied, self-pollinated flowers consistently failed to develop into fruits, even though pollen tubes grew down to the ovary and penetrated most of the ovules. In this study, we have investigated the floral biology and the breeding system in Jacaranda racemosa Chamisso, with hand-pollination experiments and the histology of post-pollination events. Flower anthesis lasted 1–3 days, and although the frequency of flower visitation was extremely low, natural pollination seemed to be effected mainly by medium-sized bees. Because the conspicuous staminodium favours eventual pollination by small bees, a possible role of the staminodium in the increase of potential pollinators is suggested. Hand-pollinations indicated that J. racemosa is a self-sterile species. Histological analysis of post-pollination events indicated the occurrence of a kind of late-acting self-incompatibility in which the processes of ovule penetration, fertilisation and endosperm initiation were slower in selfed than in crossed pistils. Until the time of self-pollinated pistil abscission, no signs of endosperm malfunction or proembryo development were observed in selfed pistils. Therefore, inbreeding depression is an unlikely explanation for self-sterility in J. racemosa.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Fundo de Apoio ao Ensino e à Pesquisa (UNICAMP) for financial support, and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for the fellowship granted to the first author. We also thank to Núcleo de Microscopia e Microanálise of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) for allowing the use of the SEM equipment, and the owners of the private environmental preservation area, in which the field work of this study was made, for the permission and support.
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1 In the present case, facilitation of a normally difficult-to-achieve mating (the presumed formation of selfed seeds) by the presence of some compatible (cross) pollen in self-pollinated pistils.
