Abstract
Abstract Adenostemma brasilianum is an herbaceous asteracean pollinated by male Ithomiinae butterflies. These insects feed on the nectar, which contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, and depend on these compounds for their defense and reproduction. The life history of this species was described from seedlings to the death of adult plants. In addition, we analyzed its reproductive phenology and identified herbivores. The study was conducted in southeastern Brazil, in a semideciduous seasonal forest fragment. Fifty plants with up to two pairs of well-defined leaves were monitored, on which we observed buds, flowers, dispersed diaspores, and herbivores. We labeled 140 capitula in the bud stage and monitored them from anthesis of the first flowers to diaspore dispersal. Adenostemma brasilianum is biennial and monocarpic, and establishes a seedling bank within about 9 months (from February to October, in the first year of life). Plant mortality resulting from physical damage was high (46%) at the beginning of the r...
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