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Lycoris aurea is a perennial herbaceous plant with important medicinal and ornamental values in the genus Lycoris Herb, the family Amaryllidaceae. The flower has a spider shape with highly exserted stigmas and anthers, which may represent a unique pollination type. In order to explore this type of pollination, we studied its floral characteristics, breeding system, and floral visitors and their behaviors. The results were as follows: (1) The single flower lasted (5.9±0.1) d and the pollen-ovule ratio (P/O) reached about 23 000. The flowers showed reverse herkogamy. On the beginning of flowering, the style and filaments were separated and the angle between them was about 30°. The style gradually moved towards the filaments in the middle and later stages and were finally on the same line with the stigma 2-3 cm higher than the anthers. The stigmas were receptive throughout the flowering period. (2) The breeding system test was self-compatible and bagged flowers cannot set fruit, indicating that pollinators were necessary for pollen transfer. Supplemental hand pollination significantly increased fruit production, indicating the existence of pollen limitation. (3) Four species of swallowtail butterfly were the effective pollinators. Due to the existence of herkogamy in L. aurea, on the beginning of flowering, their hindwings were likely to come into contact with the flattened anthers. Their hindwings might touch the stigma in the middle and later stages and thus the process of pollen transfer was accomplished. In conclusion, this study shows that the uqique floral characteristics of L. aurea are adapted for butterfly wing pollination and also will lay the foundation for its conservation and sustainable utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ardisia humilis is an excellent wild ornamental plant. For the purpose of fully utilization of this elite germplasm, the flowering biology and breeding system of this plant were explored in this study. We conducted field investigation in the flowering phenology, flower-visiting insect and their visiting behaviors on A. humilis individuals introduced in homogeneous garden. Furthermore, pollen viability and stigma receptivity were detected by pollen germination in vitro and benzidine-hydrogen peroxide method, respectively. Combined with artificial pollination, the self-compatibility and the self-pollination of A. humilis were also analyzed in this study. The results were as follows: (1) The florescence of A. humilis was from mid-late May to early June, and the full flowering period was at the end of May. The flowering period of the population, single plant and single flower were approximately 25 d, 17-20 d and 1 d, respectively. (2) A. humilis developed protogynic bisexual flowers, the pistil ripened first with partial overlaps on mature stage of pistil and that of stamen, while stigma remained receptivity until 1 d after stamens fall. (3) With the out-crossing index (OCI) value of 4 and pollen / ovule value of 5.61×103, the breeding system of A. humilis was considered to be outcrossing with partial self-compatibility, and the pollinator insects were essential. (4) The seed set of natural pollination ranked the highest level (average 52.96%), followed by that of autogamy (52.29%) and of artificial-cross pollination (50.33%), with no significant differences among the three (P>0.05), but significantly higher than that of artificial geitonogamy (28.67%) (P

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Clematis patens is a wild plant resource with excellent ornamental and medicinal values. In order to make clear the flowering process and pollination rules of C. patens, and to explore effects of introduction environment on flowering process of C. patens, the flowering phenology and pollination characteristics of C. patens on individual and population levels were observed and studied for two consecutive years(2017—2018)by the method of location observation. The results were as follows:(1)The flowering period of the population of C. patens was from mid-May to mid-June. The initial flowering period and the final flowering period were shorter, while the flowering period was longer, about 20 d; the flowering period of a single plant was 5-7 d, and the flowering period of the population was more than 30 d. The flowering proportion showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing. The cumulative flowering ratio reached 100% one week after flowering. The two-year flowering synchronization index(Si)was 0.76 and 0.74, respectively, indicating that the difference in flowering characteristics of C. patens in the two years was little.(2)There were 6 species, 13 families and 18 species of flower-visiting insects for C. patens. They have certain differences in the flower-visiting frequency, the flower-visiting behavior, and the retention time on a single flower. There were mainly eight kinds of pollinating insects, which belong to three orders and four families. Apis cerana, Eristalis arbustorum and Betasyrphus serarius had high flower-visiting frequency and long stays on single flowers. It could be preliminarily determined that they played an important role in the pollen transmission of C. patens. The observation of the flowering characteristics of C. patens and the flower-visiting insects as well as the study of the behaviors of the stealing insects, provide the reference for the introduction, cultivation and off-the-spot conservation of C. patens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bees and other pollinating insects are the important parts of biodiversity due to their great role in plant reproduction and crop production. To explore the role of city garden in native bees conservation, activity patterns, visiting behaviors and flowering plants with nectar or pollen were recorded in south Sichuan in winter. The results showed that, worker bees (Apis cerana cerana) were active to collect food out hive under suitable weather conditions, the duration of working was long. Peaks of the number of outgoing, entrance and foragers without pollen appeared at 14:00-15:00, and bimodal patterns were observed. While, peak of bees with pollen appeared at 11:00, and a unimodal pattern was observed. Time significantly affected the activity of workers. The workload of honey bees on nectar and pollen collection were different, just less than twenty percent foragers carrying pollen. Temperature and humidity also affected flights of bees to some degree, and bee activities showed similar patterns on different days. However, the activities had diverse characteristics in some time. Though a less number of plants were in flowering, most of them could be utilized by A. cerana cerana, and colonies could effectively get the food resource by behavior adjustment. In addition, visiting activities of bees on the flowers of main garden plants, such as Camellia japonica, showed obvious rhythm. Increasing the flowering plants with nectar and pollen in winter by scientific management of urban gardens would facilitate the creation of suitable habitats for A. cerana cerana and maintaining the wild population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]