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Floral epidermal structure and flower orientation: getting to grips with awkward flowers

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Abstract

The petal epidermis has been found to be important in mediating flower-pollinator interactions. Structures produced on the petal surface, in particular cone-shaped papillate (or conical) cells, have been shown to enhance bumblebee preference for flowers. One reason for this increase in preference is that the conical cells facilitate efficient handling of flowers. This is particularly clear when flower architecture requires bees to land on a vertical surface. We therefore tested the hypothesis that flowers that are held vertically show a greater tendency to produce conical cells. Analysis of 183 species finds that there is no significant relationship between the structures on the petal surface and flower orientation. We discuss the multifunctional properties of conical cells and other floral surface structures that may mean that other factors are of equal or greater importance in the relationship between pollinators and petal epidermal form.

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Acknowledgments

Heather M. Whitney is supported by an ERC starting grant (#260920). Two anonymous reviewers are gratefully thanked for their comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Behavioural Biology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford, Bristol, BS40 5DU, UK

    Sean A. Rands

  2. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK

    Beverley J. Glover

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UG, UK

    Heather M. Whitney

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  1. Sean A. Rands
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  2. Beverley J. Glover
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Correspondence to Sean A. Rands.

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Handling Editor: Lars Chittka.

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11829_2011_9146_MOESM1_ESM.txt

Additional file 1: Data used for comparative study. This file (a comma-delimited text file) presents the character states of the 183 species used in the analysis. The top line of the file details the character type. For each species on subsequent lines, the first six characters are the character states found in Table 2 of Kay et al. (1981) where ‘0’ denotes the absence and ‘1’ denotes the presence of the relevant epidermal structures. The final column for each species presents the orientation data collected as is described in the methods: ‘0’ denotes upward and ‘1’ denotes not-upward flowers. (TXT 5 kb)

11829_2011_9146_MOESM2_ESM.ps

Additional file 2: Phylogeny used for the comparative analyses. Drawn using Treeview X (Page 1996). (PS 121 kb)

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Rands, S.A., Glover, B.J. & Whitney, H.M. Floral epidermal structure and flower orientation: getting to grips with awkward flowers. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 5, 279–285 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-011-9146-3

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