Do consecutive flower visits within a crown diminish fruit set in mass‐flowering Hancornia speciosa (Apocynaceae)?

Hancornia speciosa is a self‐incompatible, mass‐flowering, sphingophilous fruit crop (mangaba) of northeast and central Brazil. The flowers have a precise pollination apparatus, which optimizes pollen transfer between flower and pollinator. While the pollination mechanism avoids self‐pollination, mass‐flowering promotes geitonogamy. During a flower visit, almost half of the exogenous pollen grains adhering to the proboscis are deposited on the stigma surface. A pollination experiment with a nylon thread simulating six consecutive flower visits within a crown revealed that only the first two flowers visited (positions 1 and 2) are highly likely to set fruit. Super‐production of flowers, and consequently obligate low fruit set, seem to be part of the reproductive strategy of the obligate outcrossing plant, Hancornia speciosa .