Massonia pustulata

Paul Cumbleton cumbleton@yahoo.co.uk
Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:06:46 PST
Some scientific research has been done on Massonia depressa, which probably
applies to other Massonia species too. In summary, 3 groups of plants were
kept in a pollinator-excluded greenhouse to test their breeding system:

1. Unmanipulated to test for self-fertilisation. Result: No fruits were set

2.  Pollinated by hand with self- pollen to determine whether plants are
self-compatible. Result: 38.5 % of flowers set fruits. The seeds were small
(0.19g)

3.   Pollinated by hand with pollen from a different plant. Result: 82.4% of
flowers set fruits. The seeds were larger (0.29g)

Also, experiments were done excluding rodents from plants in the wild.
Result: Only 4.3% of flowers set fruit, each containing about 2 seeds

 Not excluding rodents from plants in the wild resulted in 30.4% of flowers
setting fruit, each containing about 20 seeds

It seems that although they are self-compatible (and experience shows that
viable plants can be grown from self-set seed), cross pollination produces
more and larger seeds and is the main pollination strategy in the wild.

The reference for the scientific research is: "Rodent pollination in the
African lily Massonia depressa (Hyacinthaceae)" Steven D. Johnson, Anton
Pauw and Jeremy MidgleyAmerican Journal of Botany. 2001;88:1768-1773.  The
abstract can be found here: http://www.amjbot.org/content/88/10/1768.full  -
the full text can be read for free by selecting the pdf version over on the
right of that page.

Paul Cumbleton
Zone 8, U.K.




More information about the pbs mailing list