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Leaky dioecy in Diospyros (Ebenaceae) endemic to the Island of Mauritius

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Abstract

Dioecy, a rather rare phenomenon in the plant kingdom seems to be more prevalent on oceanic islands. The high incidence of dioecy on these islands could result from dioecious colonists among which a small percentage show leaky dioecy, which is an ability to self-fertilise. In this study, we report the occurrence of leaky dioecy in one of the 11 extant Diospyros species endemic to Mauritius. Female flowers on the leaky dioecious plants were artificially pollinated and bagged. Populations of D. egrettarum, D. leucomelas, D. melanida, D. revaughanii, D. tessellaria were all male-biased with a ratio of at least 2:1. Leaky dioecy occurred only in one Diospyros species, D. egrettarum where hermaphrodite plants represented 2% of the populations studied. Seeds collected from them had the same germination rate (approximately 40%) as the ones obtained from strictly unisexual female plants of D. egrettarum. The fact that leaky dioecy led to the production of fertile seeds opens the possibility that a single pioneer Diospyros plant could have played a major role in the establishment of reproductively viable populations in Mauritius.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Mauritius Research Council (MRC) for financial support and the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) for the scholarship awarded to S. Venkatasamy. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius

    Shadila Venkatasamy

  2. Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius

    Govindranathsing Khittoo

  3. Department of Botany, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Hawaii

    Sterling Keeley

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  1. Shadila Venkatasamy
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  2. Govindranathsing Khittoo
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  3. Sterling Keeley
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Correspondence to Govindranathsing Khittoo.

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Venkatasamy, S., Khittoo, G. & Keeley, S. Leaky dioecy in Diospyros (Ebenaceae) endemic to the Island of Mauritius. Plant Ecol 189, 139–146 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-006-9171-y

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