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FRUIT RIPENING ASYNCHRONY IS RELATED TO VARIABLE SEED NUMBER IN AMELANCHIER AND VACCINIUM
Author(s) -
Gorchov David L.
Publication year - 1985
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.1537-2197.1985.tb08467.x
Subject(s) - ripening , vaccinium , biology , horticulture , botany , ericaceae
Two vertebrate‐dispersed woody plants, Vaccinium corymbosum and Amelanchier arborea, were studied in southeastern Michigan to determine the proximate causes of their within‐plant fruit ripening asynchrony. Individual flowers were followed from opening ( A. arborea ) or fruit initiation ( V. corymbosum ) to fruit ripening. Fifty‐nine to 100% of the variance in fruit‐ripening dates within V. corymbosum plants was due to variance in the development time; little was due to variance in initiation dates or covariance between these two terms. Similarly, 98% of the variance in fruit‐ripening dates in A. arborea was due to variance in the number of days from flower opening to fruit ripening. Fruit developmental time in V. corymbosum and flower‐fruit interval in A. arborea were significantly correlated with seed number: fruits with more seeds developed faster. I hypothesize that in both species ripening asynchrony is largely a consequence of variability in seed number.