Reduction of geitonogamy: Flower abscission for departure of pollinators

Overproduction of flowers increases the attractiveness of a plant to pollinators, but results in increased geitonogamy. In general, flower abscission has been considered to be an event subsequent to the overproduction of flowers. We observed pollinator behavior in Tilia, a self‐incompatible, insect‐pollinated tree. We found that pollinators sequentially visited inflorescences within a tree; however, when they met with flower abortion by abscission, they were apt to move long distances and leave the tree. We propose that plants may utilize flower abscission as a method for regulating the movements of pollinators by disturbing them in order to prevent geitonogamy.