Floral phenology of Jaltomata spooneri
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Link to main page of Jaltomata spooneri
The information on this page may be cited as a communication with professor Thomas Mione, Central Connecticut State University, Biology Department, Copernicus Hall, 1615 Stanley Street, New Britain, CT 06050-4010

Methods:
Seeds of the type collection were used to grown plants; during the summer 2009 plants were grown outdoors in pots (not in the ground).

Results:

Date (2009)
Time
Observations on Tagged Flower 1, Potted Plant
no bagging to exclude insect visitors, no visiting insects were seen during any of these observations
18 Sept 7:45 am, 6 pm, 11 pm Flower closed, never been open
19 Sept 8 am Corolla partly open, anthers undehisced, filaments short
1 pm corolla fully open (rotate), anthers undehisced, filaments short
6 pm Corolla closed nearly all the way. Through the very narrow opening I can look into the flower and see that the anthers remain undehisced and filaments remain short
20 Sept 7:40 am Corolla open. Filaments have elongated. Anthers remain undehisced.
8:30 am Two anthers, possibly 3, are dehiscing. The longitudinal slit opens first at the distal end of the anther.
9:10 am At least 3 anthers are dehiscing. Filaments angle away from the style at an estimated angle of 30 - 35 degrees, resulting in spatial separation of stigma and anthers.
9:35 am At least 4 anthers dehiscing. No nectar observed, and I am not sure if lack of nectar is real or due to angle of lighting or real and plant needs watering to get nectar production going. I watered plant.
10:00 am 4 anthers dehisced, one in the process of dehiscing. No nectar seen.
11:45 am all 5 anthers have dehisced. Filaments angle away from style while corolla is rotate.
4:00 pm nectar droplets very inconspicuous (where corolla meets androecium). Filaments now bowing slightly, orienting anthers closer to stigma.
6:30 pm, 7 pm Filaments bow anthers toward stigma but anthers are not in contact with stigma. Corolla relaxing (closing).
9 pm Corolla crateriform, in other words the corolla is not closed all the way. I am not sure if the temperature (chilly) might cause the corolla to not close all the way
21 Sept 6:40 am The combination of the filaments being bowed and the corolla being relaxed are placing the dehisced anthers at the stigma. I am not sure if pollen was transferred to the stigma by this placement.
1 pm Filaments angle away from style the way they did at mid-day 24 hours ago. Flower continues to be functionally hermaphroditic.
4:30 pm corolla half-closed, flower hermaphroditic
  9:30 pm petals shut
22 Sept 7:40 am corolla-androecium unit detached & slid down style, but has not completely fallen off
  3:45 pm corolla-androecium has, sometime between 7:40 am and now, dropped completely off
Summary The pistillate phase lasted one full day (anthers were undehisced and filaments were short). The hermaphdroditic phase lasted two days; during these two days at first the filaments anged away from the style putting a few mm between the stigma and anthers, and later the same day the dehisced anthers were very near the stigma or in contact with it. This could be delayed self-pollination, but bagging to exclude insect visitors would need to be done to confirm this.