Morph-specific variation of floral traits associated with reciprocal herkogamy in natural populations of Primula vulgaris and Primula veris

Abstract

Documenting the morph-specific variation of floral traits associated with reciprocal herkogamy is of special importance for revealing the functional significance of traits in the evolution and maintenance of the heterostylous syndrome. In order to describe the extent and specificity of variation, stigma height, anther height, stigma-anther separation and corolla tube length were measured on 800 flowers collected in two natural populations of Primula vulgaris and P. veris. Beside the almost complete separation of stigma heights between the two morphs, we found appreciable intermorph overlap in anther height and relatively broad range of stigma-anther separation so far reported for heterostylous species. The corolla tube length–stigma-anther separation relationship showed striking difference between the two floral morphs, which supports the hypothesis that length of the corolla tube plays a more important role in positioning the sex-organs in the appropriate distance in the short-styled than in the long-styled morph.