Effect of floral morphology on fruit set in Epimedium sagittatum (Berberidaceae)

Abstract

The relationship between the floral morphology, especially the heterostyly, and the pollination ability in Epimedium sagittatum was investigated. Three distinct kinds of flowers were observed in this species: (1) about 54% of the flowers had pistils that were of equal length or shorter than the stamens (PESS); (2) in 23.5% of the flowers, the pistils were longer than the stamens (PLS), and; (3) in 22.5% of the flowers, the styles were positioned axially away from the anthers (SAA). No significant difference in fruit setting rate was observed between PLS and SAA flowers, but PESS flowers set less fruits than the other two. A breeding experiment indicated that the species was self-incompatible, and revealed that the presence of PLS and SAA could increase outcrossing and fruit set. A field experiment showed that open-pollinated flowers of E. sagittatum produced significantly less fruits than an artificial xenogamy experiment. This may be because most of the flowers in natural populations have pistils and anthers of the same length (PESS). The principal visitors and effective pollinators are Bombus sp1 and Bombus sp2. Attractant experiments indicated that the fruit set of flowers whose spurs were removed was significantly lower than that of flowers whose stamens were removed, suggesting that the spurs of the flowers could strongly increase the pollinator visitation and fruit set. The results therefore showed that floral morphology could significantly affect fruit set in E. sagittatum.