Pollination failure in mediterranean Ruscus aculeatus L.

The reproductive biology of Ruscus aculeatus L. was studied at a mediterranean site during 1996–1999. Field observations showed that reproductive success was very low, because only 3% of the marked flowers developed fruits in 1996 and none in 1997 and 1998. Several experiments were performed to investigate the reasons for reproductive failure in this species. Pollen viability was on average 85%, showing that reproductive failure is not due to poor pollen quality. Two hand‐pollination experiments showed that all flowers are potentially able to develop fruits throughout the flowering period, suggesting that no aberration occurs in sporogencsis, fertilization or post‐zygote processes in R. aculeatus and that low reproductive success in the field occurs because of lack of pollination. This hypothesis was tested by looking for pollen on the stigmatic surface of randomly sampled flowers, but without success. Moreover, the bodies of insects trapped in the proximity of the female plants were carefully checked for pollen but none was found. The number of pollen grains produced per flower is lower than that reported for wind‐pollinated species. Nevertheless, we showed with empirical probes that the possibility of wind pollination cannot be ruled out. The breeding system and reproductive characteristics of R. aculeatus seem to match the traits of the sclerophyllous taxa remnants of the tropical Tertiary flora. Moreover, the climatic fluctuation of the Quaternary and the establishment of the mediterranean climate might have changed the conditions of a good pollination process. At present, the low sexual reproduction of R. aculeatus is due to the lack of pollen transport. Within a population of R. aculeatus , genetic variability is revealed by seeds from the few developed fruits which have been shown to be viable. However, maintenance of the individual plants in the population relies on the resprouting capacity of the species in question.