Unravelling the stylar polymorphism in Melochia (Malvaceae): reciprocity and ancillary characters

Heterostyly is a genetic polymorphism in which plant populations possess two (distyly) or three (tristyly) morphs with flowers differing reciprocally in stigma and anther height. Sex organ deployment has been described as being highly variable among and within species of several distylous taxa belon...

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Published inBotanical journal of the Linnean Society Vol. 176; no. 2; pp. 147 - 158
Main Authors Faife‐Cabrera, Michel, Ferrero, Victoria, Navarro, Luis
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Academic Press 01.10.2014
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Oxford University Press
Subjects
Cuban archipelago
flowers
genetic polymorphism
heterostyly
intraspecific variation
Melochia
morphometry
morphs
pollen
pollen dimorphism
reciprocal herkogamy
stigma
Cuba
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Summary:Heterostyly is a genetic polymorphism in which plant populations possess two (distyly) or three (tristyly) morphs with flowers differing reciprocally in stigma and anther height. Sex organ deployment has been described as being highly variable among and within species of several distylous taxa belonging to different taxonomic groups. However, the number of studies considering within‐species disparities is still limited. For a better overview of the existing amount of variation that can occur within and between heterostylous species, we sampled 46 populations of six Melochia spp., a style‐polymorphic genus in Cuba. We characterized the floral morphology in all populations and described a set of ancillary characters per species. All of these Melochia spp. are distylous, except for the monomorphic M. nodiflora. The S‐morph produces fewer, larger pollen than L‐morphs, and has verrucose ornamentation. The L‐morph produces reticulate pollen and has larger stigmatic papillae than the S‐morph. The monomorphic M. nodiflora shows ancillary characteristics that are similar to the L‐morph individuals in the related species. As expected, there are differences in ancillary characters among species and also dissimilarities in reciprocity among and within species of Melochia. Our results highlight the importance of considering intraspecific variation in the morphometric characterization of heterostylous taxa. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 176, 147–158.
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/boj.12196
Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad - No. CGL2009-10466
Xunta de Galicia - No. INCITE09-3103009PR
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ArticleID:BOJ12196
European Union, the Ibero-American programme for science, technology and development - No. CYTED 409AC0369
Table S1. Sample size, corolla length, pistil length, anther height and reciprocity values for both levels of the sexual organs for the studied populations of Melochia species. Arithmetic median and coefficient of variation (CV) in millimetres are shown. For monomorphic populations (i.e. with no differentiation in L- and S-morphs), results are shown in the L-morph columns.Table S2. Arithmetic mean and coefficient of variation (CV) of pollen production estimations, and pollen diameter (μm), of six Melochia species from Cuba. Ratio L/S of pollen production (PPR) and ratio S/L of pollen diameter (PDR) are given. Values in bold differ significantly at P < 0.05. L, long-styled morph; S, short-styled morph; N, sample size.
ark:/67375/WNG-5SP8JFTJ-Z
ISSN:0024-4074
1095-8339
DOI:10.1111/boj.12196