Mione, Leiva G. & Yacher 647

units on ruler in upper
left are mm

Photo by T. Mione in Peru

Nectar Color: This species usually has clear nectar, but can produce orange nectar. See last paragraph of this web page for details.

Nectar Sugar Concentration (Estimate): With a refractometer students and I measured 31% sugar in the nectar pooled from several different flowers all in their hermaphroditic phase. The hand-held refractometer (eclipse, Bellingham & Stanley) was first calibrated to 0 with distilled water. Nectar was diluted 1:1 with distilled water, so the refractometer reading was doubled to obtain this estimate of 31% sugar (1 Oct 2004, CCSU greenhouse).

Floral Phenology: The pistillate phase lasted one to three days. The functionally hermaphroditic phase (shown below) lasted two to six days. Flowers lasted five to seven days. For these statements three flowers were carefully observed daily 11 October to 3 November 2004, by Christopher J. McCue in the CCSU greenhouse, on a plant grown from seeds of the collection shown below. Prior to Christopher's observations I made the notes: This species seems to be protogynous. On plants grown (in a pot outdoors, summer 2003) I noted some flowers having undehisced anthers and others having dehisced anthers. Protogyny is a common condition in this genus.

Self-Compatible: This species is almost certainly self-compatible. A single plant grown by a student (at home) during the summer and fall of 2004 produced at least one orange berry containing seeds. Another single plant grown in the CCSU greenhouse (fall to winter 2004) produced an orange berry.

The flower in the photo
near the top of this page
was photographed on a wild plant
in Peru,
while this flower comes
from a greenhouse-grown plant
of the same collection.
Note the corolla color difference,
suggesting that natural light
and/or other abiotic factors
such as soil ph greatly
affect floral color.

Flower with part of corolla removed
to show the base of stamens.

Note the thickenings
that extend outward radially
from the base of each stamen,
adnate to the corolla base.

The ovary is surrounded by
the bases of the stamens.

Plant grown in Connecticut
from seed of collection
Mione, Leiva G. & Yacher 647

Photo by Amanda A. Davis
and Tiana M. Irizarry
in CCSU's biology department,
with assistance from
T. Mione, February 2005.

In Peru (at the time the upper-most photo was taken) I wrote in my field notebook "nectar clear." Again, when I grew this species at home (outdoors in a pot) during 2003, I noted clear nectar: On 22 September 2003 I wrote "copious clear nectar, base of corolla purple." Again on 19 May 2004 this species flowered (in Copernicus Hall on the window sill, thanks to Dan Brooks' care) and the nectar was clear. In February of 2005 I noted nectar with a slight orange tint, in a plant being cultivated on a windowsill. I stuck the corner of a white kimwipe into the nectar, removed the kimwipe, and indeed the kimwipe was light orange! Again, in late February 2005 I ripped open three flowers and the pistillate phase flower had clear nectar while the two hermaphroditic-phase flowers had orange nectar (photo to left)!

The plant that produced the orange nectar was growing in a pot on a window sill with the flowers touching the cold window, so I wonder if the cold may be able to induce orange pigment formation. At the same time, the flowers (photo to left) do not show nearly as much anthocyanin formation in the base of the corolla as in the flower photographed in Peru. To be sure I was looking at orange nectar I moved the nectar to a nonabsorbent white surface, and the nectar remained orange, and two days later when I looked again the nectar had even dried orange!

The units along the bottom of this photo are mm. Photo by T. Mione in CCSU's Department of Biology.