Abstract
Leucas nutans (Roth) Spreng. belongs to the family Lamiaceae and is native to India having some medicinal properties. The knowledge regarding plant-pollinator interactions and reproductive biology is essential for developing conservation strategies. The present study revealed the floral architecture, phenology, breeding system, and role of bees in pollination. It usually flowers during August to November. The zygomorphic flowers with bilabiate corolla produced sugar-rich nectar (46 ± 2.50 ºBrix) that acted as a classic reward for bee pollination. In the present study, it was noticed that bees like Apis dorsata had the highest visitation frequency (43.66 ± 1.20 inflorescence/15 min) and also showed a highest index of visitation rate (IVR = 392.94) followed by Amegilla sp. (IVR = 262.66), Thyreus sp. (IVR = 151.92) and Cearatina sp. (IVR = 80). Among the different flower visitors, A. dorsata played a major role in pollination with respect to the consistency in visitation pattern and floral architecture. The plant showed relatively self-incompatibility and xenogamous hand pollination showed a higher fruit set (84.66 ± 1.76%) as compared to natural open pollination (78.66 ± 1.76%). Low reproductive success was also observed in autogamy (60.00 ± 2.30%) and geitonogamy (62.00 ± 1.15%) suggesting the advantages of the mixed breeding system of the species that might be a potential alternative for assuring the reproductive success due to pollinators’ decline.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the UGC Non-NET fellowship for financial assistance and the Department of Botany (DST-FIST & UGC-SAP, DRS) Visva-Bharati, for providing necessary laboratory facilities. Authors are also thankful to Prof. Ansuman Chattopadhyay, Department of Zoology, Visva-Bharati for providing fluorescence microscopy facility. Assistance received from DST-PURSE (Ref. No. SR/PURSE Phase 2/42 (G &C)), Visva-Bharati is thankfully acknowledged for SEM analysis. Authors are also thankful to the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata for the identification of flower visitors.
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SO: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Validation, Visualization, Formal analysis, Investigation; Writing-original draft. SP: Investigation. SM: Conceptualization, Writing—Review & Editing, Supervision.
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Oraon, S., Pal, S. & Mondal, S. Bees: potent pollinators of Leucas nutans (Lamiaceae). Arthropod-Plant Interactions 17, 571–580 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-023-09977-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-023-09977-6