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REPRODUCTION AND VARIATION IN ACONITUM COLUMBIANUM (RANUNCULACEAE), WITH EMPHASIS ON CALIFORNIA POPULATIONS
Author(s) -
Brink Donald E.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1980.tb07650.x
Subject(s) - nectar , aconitum , biology , pollinator , pollination , range (aeronautics) , ranunculaceae , foraging , botany , zoology , ecology , pollen , alkaloid , materials science , composite material
Nectary depth in Aconitum columbianum Nutt. in T. & G. shows little variation within populations but much continuous variation among populations. Mean nectary depth in populations studied ranges from 3.4 mm (SD = ±0.32) to 9.4 mm (SD = ±0.75). Correlations of nectary depths with the foraging behaviors and tongue lengths of bees visiting A. columbianum flowers indicate that populations with shallow nectaries are adapted to pollination by both short‐ and long‐tongued bees. Bumblebee species with short tongues are not usually pollinators of flowers in populations with deep nectaries. Nectary depth is geographically correlated in California, and populations over large areas have similar nectary depths. Nectary depth is also correlated with bulbifery. Bulbiferous plants have strictly shallow nectaries, and are confined to two regions near the western extreme of the range of A. columbianum . The range of bulbiferous Aconitum in California is contiguous with the range of non‐bulbiferous populations with shallow nectaries.