Assessment of distyly syndrome in Primula palinuri Petagn. a rare species living on maritime vertical cliffs

Abstract

The distinctive habitat of vertical cliffs provides refuges for many relict plant species. Primula palinuri Petagn. is the only maritime and Mediterranean species of the genus Primula. It only occurs on the cliffs of a narrow area of southern Italy and is classified as being at risk of extinction. Given that only fragmentary information on the biology and ecology of P. palinuri is available, we studied flower morphology, breeding system and other reproductive traits of this species to furnish data for the evaluation of its conservation status. We assessed that plants of P. palinuri develop either long-styled or short-styled flowers and both morphs are equally represented in the studied populations. Reciprocal position of anthers and stigmas is complemented by differences in pollen–ovule ratios, pollen size and exine ornamentation. In both morphs, about 90 % of open-pollinated flowers developed mature capsules and the average number of seeds per capsule was around sixty. Hand pollination experiments showed that reproductive success was high (92.86 and 100 % fruit set) following inter-morph crossings, but no fruit develops after same-morph pollination or selfing. We have ascertained that full distyly syndrome (distinct floral morphs, intra-morph incompatibility and morphs equally represented in the populations) occurs in P. palinuri. However, a further reduction of the severely fragmented range, any rapid change of the environmental conditions due to human impact on coastal areas or stochastic events of plant mortality may alter the proportion of the two morphs, affecting the fragile conservation status of the species.