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The efficiency of insect pollination of the neophyte Impatiens glandulifera (Balsaminaceae)
Author(s) -
Titze A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
nordic journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.333
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1756-1051
pISSN - 0107-055X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-1051.2000.tb00729.x
Subject(s) - pollen , biology , balsaminaceae , pollination , impatiens , nectar , botany , germination , ovule , stamen , fruit set , horticulture , cultivar
To comprehend the reproductional success of Impatiens glandulifera in Central Europe, the pollination system was analyzed under field conditions. Impatiens glandulifera attracts a lot of visitors because of its abundant amount of nectar with its high sugar content. The range of visitors, their composition and their changes during the blooming time and their pollen loading capacity were investigated as well as plant and flower morphology, the nectar production, the quantity and viability of pollen, the stigmatic pollen load, the pollen/ovule ratio and the seed production of the neophyte. The visitors, which in Central Europe almost exclusively utilize the nectar, are passively covered with pollen because of the morphology and the mobile suspension of the flowers. Consequently the next landing results in a pollination of I. glandulifera during the female blooming phase. Although the germination rate of the pollen deposited on the stigma is very low, a 100% seed set is readily obtained during the initial visit to a flower in female stage.