Self-Fertilization in Amphicarpum purshii: Its Influence on Fitness and Variation of Progeny from Aerial Panicles
Cheplick GP and Quinn JA. 1986. Self-Fertilization in Amphicarpum purshii: Its Influence on Fitness and Variation of Progeny from Aerial Panicles. The American Midland Naturalist. 116(2):394-402
The annual grass, Amphicarpum purshii , grows in disturbed areas of the New Jersey Pine Barrens where it produces seeds both above and below ground. The cleistogamous subterranean spikelets do not open and never outcross; however, outcrossing is possible in aerial spikelets via chasmogamy. The authors investigated self-fertilization of the aerial spikelets and its effects on seed set, germinability and variation of "family" (maternal siblings) progeny by bagging aerial panicles as they emerged on 20 greenhouse-grown plants and making comparisons with 20 unbagged ("open") controls. They concluded that a mixed breeding system which allows for some outcrossing coupled with high phenotypic plasticity explains the maintenance of considerable genotypic and phenotypic variation in this colonizing species.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Cheplick, Gregory; Quinn, James
- Units
- PINE
- Keywords
- blue maiden-cane (Amphicarpum purshii), Plant Studies, Population Dynamics, Reproduction, Research Report, self-fertilization