Morphology and floral biology of Phenakospermum (Strelitziaceae), an arborescent herb of the Neotropics

Field observations and experiments on the floral biology and pollinators of Phenakospermum guyannense (Strelitziaceae) were conducted in the coastal savannahs near Cayenne, French Guiana. Phenakospermum is an arborescent herb that is distributed throughout tropical South America east of the Andes fr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biotropica 1993-09, Vol.25 (3), p.290-300
Main Authors: Kress, W.J, Stone, D.E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ANATOMIA DE LA PLANTA
ANATOMIE VEGETALE
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Autoecology
Bats
BIOLOGIA
Biological and medical sciences
BIOLOGIE
BIOLOGY
Bracts
CHIROPTERA
EVOLUCION
EVOLUTION
FENOLOGIA
FLEUR
FLORACION
FLORAISON
FLORES
FLOWERING
FLOWERS
FRENCH GUIANA
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
GUAYANA FRANCESA
GUYANE FRANCAISE
Inflorescences
MUSACEAE
NECTAR
NECTAR FLOWS
Petals
PHENOLOGIE
PHENOLOGY
PLANT ANATOMY
PLANT MORPHOLOGY
Plants
Plants and fungi
POLINIZADORES
Pollination
POLLINATORS
POLLINISATEUR
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Summary:Field observations and experiments on the floral biology and pollinators of Phenakospermum guyannense (Strelitziaceae) were conducted in the coastal savannahs near Cayenne, French Guiana. Phenakospermum is an arborescent herb that is distributed throughout tropical South America east of the Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia where it is usually found in open, secondary growth in savannahs and at forest margins. It reaches heights of over 10 m; each shoot is terminated by a massive inflorescence nearly 4 m long. Flowering occurs from the end of the rainy season to the middle of the dry season and a single inflorescence can produce flowers for 2 to 4 months. The large, hermaphroditic flowers emerge from the protective inflorescence bracts just before sunset and are receptive for one night. From 1.2 to 3.0 ml of hexose-dominant nectar, with a mean concentration of 16.9 percent, is produced by each flower. Flower-visiting bats of the genus Phyllostomus were the primary pollinators observed during the study in French Guiana. Caluromys philander, a nocturnally foraging marsupial, visited the flowers to rob nectar, but did not effect pollination. These observations on the floral biology of Phenakospermum suggest a pollination system that has coevolved with the bat visitors. Additional evidence on the pollination systems of the two other genera in the Strelitziaceae support the conjecture that specific characters, such as inflorescence habit, nocturnal flowering, and non-replenishable nectar, are specializations for pollination by bats.
ISSN:0006-3606
1744-7429
DOI:10.2307/2388787