Wani Ishfaq Ahmad, Verma Susheel, Ahmad Parvaiz, El-Serehy Hamed A, Hashim Maha J
Conservation and Molecular Biology Lab, Department of Botany, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri, India.
Department of Botany and Microbiology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Front Plant Sci. 2022 Feb 17;13:699645. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.699645. eCollection 2022.
Information on reproductive biology and pollination ecology studies of threatened plants are essential to develop strategies for their sustainable utilization and effective conservation. As such, these studies were conducted on , a high-value "vulnerable" medicinal herb of the north-western Himalaya. This species presents a unique mode of reproductive behavior through the involvement of different floral events, including the movement of reproductive organs. The plants survive extremely cold conditions through underground perennating rhizomes that sprout into juvenile shoots with the onset of the favorable climatic conditions. The peduncle arises from the axils of the radical leaves, bearing a globular collection of densely arranged hermaphrodite flowers with temporally separated male and female phases; the male phase precedes the female phase (protandry). Anther dehiscence and stigma receptivity is post-anthesis. Anthers dehisce longitudinally along margins, liberating a large mass of spherical and tricolpate pollen with spinulose exine. Pollen viability decreased to < 10% on day 9. Pistil is tristylous, with each style terminating into a fan-shaped stigma lobe. The pollen receptive surface of each stigmatic lobe remains incurved at an angle of 360° and shows upward movement after anthesis, forming a funnel-like structure at an angle of 180° with respect to the ovary. Pollination syndrome is ambophilous. Spontaneous autogamy or geitonogamy to a certain extent is achieved in this species due to the arrangement of flowers in the inflorescence and overlapping of male and female reproductive phases among them. Incurved stigmatic lobes and outward movement of stamens too facilitate outcrossing. Pollen/ovule ratio estimates, results of pollination experiments on breeding behavior, outcrossing, and self-compatibility indices demonstrated that plants are self-compatible and cross-fertile.
有关濒危植物生殖生物学和传粉生态学研究的信息对于制定其可持续利用和有效保护策略至关重要。因此，针对喜马拉雅西北部一种高价值的“易危”药用草本植物开展了这些研究。该物种通过不同的花部事件，包括生殖器官的运动，呈现出独特的生殖行为模式。这些植物通过地下多年生根茎在极寒条件下存活，随着有利气候条件的到来，根茎会萌发出幼嫩的枝条。花茎从基生叶的叶腋处生出，其上着生密集排列的球形两性花，雄花和雌花阶段在时间上分开；雄花阶段先于雌花阶段（雄蕊先熟）。花药开裂和柱头可接受性在花后发生。花药沿边缘纵向开裂，释放出大量具刺状外壁的球形三沟花粉。花粉活力在第9天降至<10%。雌蕊为三型花柱，每个花柱末端为扇形柱头裂片。每个柱头裂片的花粉接受表面以360°角向内弯曲，花后向上移动，相对于子房形成180°角的漏斗状结构。传粉综合征为兼性传粉。由于花序中花的排列以及其中雄花和雌花生殖阶段的重叠，该物种在一定程度上实现了自发自花授粉或同株异花授粉。向内弯曲的柱头裂片和雄蕊的向外移动也有利于异花授粉。花粉/胚珠比估计、关于繁殖行为、异花授粉和自交亲和性指数的传粉实验结果表明，这些植物是自交亲和且杂交可育的。
