Abstract
Pollen heteromorphism, defined here as the production within all flowers of a plant of several pollen morphs differing in aperture number, is common in angiosperms. We have focused on the evolution of pollen heteromorphism in the genusViola, in which about 1/3 of the species are pollen-heteromorphic. We have studied the distribution of pollen heteromorphism in the genusViola using a molecular phylogeny based on ITS sequence data. We show that pollen heteromorphism has evolved independently at least six times inViola. A comparative analysis shows that the occurrence of pollen heteromorphism is correlated with sporophytic polyploidy in all sections of the genus apart from sectionMelanium. This section differs from all other sections on several aspects such as flower morphology, absence of cleistogamous flowers, and a high proportion of heteromorphic species. We discuss the possible adaptiveness of pollen heteromorphism in this section.
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Nadot, S., Ballard, H.E., Creach, J.B. et al. The evolution of pollen heteromorphism inViola: A phylogenetic approach. Pl Syst Evol 223, 155–171 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00985276
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00985276