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Fertility and sexual structure in a polygamous willow population

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Abstract

This note reports on an extraordinary polygamous population of Salix acmophylla from Nahal Dishon, Israel. Remarkably, all individuals in this population are bisexuals, that is, they all contain typically female catkins (with some or without any male florets), typically male catkins (with some or without any female florets) and mixed catkins. The proportions of these three catkin types in populations are 36.3%, 46.8% and 16.9% respectively. The fertility of these willows was found to be poor: no mature seeds were found at all and mean pollen stainability was low as 15.6%. The possible reasons for this semi-sterility are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Ort Braude College, P.O. Box 78, Karmiel, 21982, Israel

    A. Rottenberg

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  1. A. Rottenberg
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Correspondence to A. Rottenberg.

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Rottenberg, A. Fertility and sexual structure in a polygamous willow population. Plant Syst. Evol. 268, 257–260 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-007-0573-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-007-0573-7

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