Cleistogamy and Chasmogamy in Ceratocapnos heterocarpa (Fumariaceae)

Abstract

Ceratocapnos heterocarpa Durieu is a cleistogamous, heterocarpous annual species that produces both closed (cleistogamous, CL) and open flowers (chasmogamous, CH), and two types of fruit that are adapted to short-range (short fruit) and long-range spread (long fruit). CL flowers usually produce short fruits, whereas CH flowers produce both types of fruit in approximately the same proportions. The two floral types are never simultaneous; the CL flowers are formed first in winter, and, after an intervening period where intermediate flowers grow, CH flowers are produced in spring. Growth of CH flowers requires the plant to reach a given growth stage and calls for specific photoperiod and temperature conditions. CL flowers are considerably smaller and produce less pollen than do CH flowers and develop at a different rate. In CL flowers, anthers cover the whole stigma, onto which they unload their contents, but in CH flowers, both self- and cross-pollination can occur. The occurrence of the two types of fl...