Sequential stamen maturation and movement in a protandrous herb: mechanisms increasing pollination efficiency and reducing sexual interference

Abstract

'You-Hao Guo' 'Chun-Feng Yang'] Successive stamen movement directly controls pollen presentation schedules through sequential stamen maturation and changes the extent of herkogamy by altering the positions of sexual organs. We conducted floral manipulations to determine the function of successive stamen movement in pollen transfer. Our study supports the pollen presentation theory and provides direct experimental evidence that successive stamen movement could increase pollen transfer efficiency by sequential stamen maturation. On the other hand, movement herkogamy promotes pollen export, deposition and seed set, and could therefore be regarded as an effective mechanism to reduce interference between male and female functions.