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Lifetime fecundity and floral variation in Tuberaria guttata (Cistaceae), a Mediterranean annual

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Abstract

In Tuberaria guttata, petal length, ovule number, and seeds per capsule raised steeply with increasing plant size (respectively, in the ranges 6-11 mm, 40-100, and 20-80), while the number of stamens varied relatively little (14-20). All flowers set fruit, and the rates of embryo abortion were independent of plant size and low on average. Individual fecundities had a markedly right-skewed frequency distribution (in the ranges 1-20 capsules and 20-1500 seeds per plant), which issued not only from plant size and flower production being positively correlated, but also from per-flower ovule numbers being directly proportional to plant size. Correlated variation of plant and ovary sizes amplified among-plant inequalities regarding fecundity; allowed larger plants to set ca. 50% more seed than expected on the basis of flower number only; and caused the slope of the size-fecundity relationship to be considerably steeper (at the population level) than if ovule number was a fixed trait. Corolla, ovary and androecium plasticity in Tuberaria are discussed in terms of environmental effects and developmental constraints.

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  1. Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo 1095, E-41080, Sevilla, Spain

    Javier Herrera

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  1. Javier Herrera
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Herrera, J. Lifetime fecundity and floral variation in Tuberaria guttata (Cistaceae), a Mediterranean annual. Plant Ecology 172, 219–225 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:VEGE.0000026340.53858.44

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:VEGE.0000026340.53858.44