REPRODUCTIVE-BIOLOGY OF 8 SYMPATRIC MYRTACEAE FROM CENTRAL BRAZIL

Eight species of Brazilian Myrtaceae were studied for their flowering phenology, pollination biology, breeding system and fruiting success: Eugenia dysenterica, Siphoneugena densiflora, Blepharocalyx salicifoli us, Campomanesia pubescens, C. velutina, Myrcia linearifolia, M. rhodo sepala and Psidium firmum. Flowering strategies were mass-flowering an d steady-state types, with two species showing a pulsed flowering. All species were bee-pollinated with pollen as the floral reward; flowers opened early in tile morning and lasted one day; buzz-pollination was registered in three species. Pollinator-sharing of Bombus spp. bees o ccurred in the four savanna shrubs, pre-dawn pollination by Ptilogloss a sp. (Colletidae) was found in arboreal S. densiflora and the remaini ng two trees had open pollination systems. The three forest species we re marked ly self-incompatible, and two of the savanna species were ef fectively so, whilst three savanna species showed self-compatibility.