Floral recovery from accidents

Abstract

Pollination Plants in the field layer may be susceptible to damage, with their stems bent or twisted by wind, falling objects, or trampling. For flowers specialized to attract insect pollinators, such accidents can cause changes in orientation that could decrease the chances of successful pollination. In experiments with a range of herbaceous species, Armbruster and Muchhala compared the postinjury responses of bilaterally symmetrical flowers with those of radially symmetrical flowers. Bilateral flowers mostly showed the ability to correct their position though reorientation of the floral stem or the floral sexual organs themselves, resulting in restoration of pollination efficiency. Few radially symmetrical flowers showed the same ability because their orientation had little effect on pollination accuracy. New Phytol. 10.1111/nph.16482 (2020).