Breeding system and temporal variation in fecundity of Pancratium maritimum L. (Amaryllidaceae) - Reproductive ecology of Pancratium maritimum

Flowering phenology(2) breeding system and temporal variation in reproducti ve success were studied over two consecutive years in a population of Pancr atium maritimum L. (Amaryllidaceae) on coastal sand-dunes in northwest Spai n. The population flowering period was late June to early September, with t he flowering peak in mid-July. Fruit set did not vary significantly between years. However, plants which flowered in July and August had higher fruit set than plants which flowered in June, though no such differences were obs erved in mean number of seeds per fruit or mean seed-to-ovule ratio. Pollen transfer experiments indicated that the plants of the study population are self-compatible and capable of spontaneous selfing: the value of the Schoe n and Lloyd self-compatibility index was 0.91, indicating that the fertiliz ation capacity of self pollen ist almost as high as that of nonself pollen. This contrasts with the results of a study of populations of P. maritimum in Israel, where plants were found to be self-incompatible; it thus seems p ossible that the breeding system of this species varies among populations.