Among- and within-flower comparisons of pollen tube growth following self and cross pollinations in Dianthus chinensis

AIZEN, M.A., K. SEARCY, Y D. MULCAHY

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY

BOTANICAL SOC AMER INC

Lugar: St. Louis; Año: 1990 vol. 77 p. 671 - 676

0002-9122

We compared the rate of pollen tube growth following self-and cross-pollinations both among and within flowers of two clones of Dianthus chinensis L. For among-flower comparisons, both styles of a flower were pollinated with either self- or cross-pollen. Within-flower comparisons were made between the 2 styles of the same flower, one of which was self-pollinated and the other cross-pollinated. Comparisons between flowers indicated that self-pollen grew slower than cross-pollen in both clones studied. However, differences in the growth rate of pollen tubes from self- and cross-pollinations were greater when comparisons were made between the 2 styles of the same flower than when pollinations were made in different flowers. These results were taken to suggest the existence of interstyle interactions in pollen tube growth.