Background and aims-Autonomous selfing is a potential strategy to overcome pollinator scarcity or unreliability, but the specific mechanisms of autonomous selfing need further study to clarify our understanding of this phenomenon. This study investigated the mechanism of autonomous selfing in a subalpine population of Prunella vulgaris (Lamiaceae), a species with didynamous stamens. Methods-We studied the floral biology, pollinator activity, and breeding system of Prunella vulgaris in a natural population. The short stamens and long stamens were removed separately to examine their contribution to self-pollinated seed production. In addition, the stamens were removed at different developmental stages to determine the timing of autonomous selfing. Key results-The short stamens were closer to the stigma than the long stamens. Seed production after removal of the long stamens was higher than following removal of the short stamens, suggesting that spatial separation of the anthers from the stigma is crucial and pollen from the short stamens contributes most frequently to self-pollination. Self-fertilization started at the final bud stage of flower development, which may be consistent with the prior selfing mode, but seed production gradually increased during the flower lifespan , suggesting that competing selfing and delayed selfing may also contribute to autonomous selfing. Bagged flowers set as many seeds as flowers hand-pollinated with outcross pollen or self-pollen, and thus the population shows a high capacity for autonomous selfing. Emasculated flowers open to visitation by pollinators produced almost no seed, showing that the pollinator-visitation rate was low, and that the majority of the seeds in intact flowers resulted from self-fertilization. Conclusions-The findings show that under low pollinator availability, preanthesis autogamy is likely to be selectively advantageous as a reproductive assurance mechanism in a subalpine population of Prunella vulgaris.
Traditional knowledge of the plants used for textile dyeing is disappearing due to the utilization of synthetic dyes. Recently, natural products made from plants have gained global interest. Thus, preserving traditional knowledge of textile dyeing plants is crucial. Here, we documented this knowledge by interviewing 2070 informants from 14 communities of the Chin ethnic group of Myanmar. The Chin communities we interviewed used a total of 32 plant species for textile dyeing from 29 genera in 24 families. Chromolaena odorata, Lithocarpus fenestratus, and L. pachyphyllus were the most important dye species. The most common responses described dyes that were red in color, produced from leaves, derived from tree species, collected from the wild, and used as firewood ash as a mordant to fix the dye to the fabrics. According to the IUCN Red List of threatened species, one species was registered as Data Deficient, 20 species still needed to be categorized, and 11 species were categorized as Least Concern. This study will help re-establish the use of natural dyes, encourage the cultural integrity of the indigenous people, and serve as an example for other communities to preserve their traditional knowledge of plant textile dyes.
Aims Floral traits and the number of visitors are expected to change with different mating systems. We tested this hypothesis by comparing flowers of Prunella vulgaris (Lamiaceae) with inserted and exserted styles across a strongly exserted style biased, an exserted style biased, and a strongly inserted style biased subalpine population. Methods We examined flowering phenology, floral morphology, flower visitation rate, capacity for autonomous self-pollination, and visitor contribution to seed production for each style type and in each population. We also examined inbreeding depression by comparing the relative performance of progeny from self- and cross-pollination. Important Findings Exserted style plants had larger and more open flowers, increased pollen production, higher amounts of nectar rewards, and higher visitation and outcrossing rates than inserted style plants. Similarly on the population level, the visitation rates were higher in the exserted style biased populations than in the inserted style biased population. Inserted style plants provided a stronger reproductive assurance through autonomous selfing than exserted style plants. Reproductive assurance and outcrossing rates did not differ among populations, showing low visitation rates may be sufficient for adequate seed production in P. vulgaris. Although inserted style plants had a lower inbreeding depression level than exserted style plants, the inbreeding depression of both was less than 0.5, suggesting that an inbreeding depression should not counteract the evolution of selfing in this species. Inserted style plants provide reproductive assurance through autonomous selfing, and exserted style plants ensure outcrossing through pollinator services, supporting a stable mixed mating system in this subalpine plant.
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