| Abstract: | Species of Coriaria are wind-pollinated and self-compatible. Discrepancies in the literature regarding sex expression in the genus may be attributed to inter- and intra-floral dichogamy. The southern hemisphere species and the Himalayan C. terminalis are evergreen phanerophytes or high elevation hemicryptophytes, which flower on new wood. Their racemes are many-flowered and are produced singly (terminal) or more usually in pairs in the axils at each node, and contain protogynous, hermaphrodite flowers. The northern hemisphere species are deciduous phanerophytes, which flower on old wood. Their racemes are few-flowered but aggregated in axillary clusters of up to 12 per node; sex expression is andromonoecious or monoecious (depending on species), with inter-floral protandry and intra-floral protogyny. In this lineage of species the evolution of a deciduous habit, the presentation of an initial male phase (inter-floral protandry), and the aggregation of many, few-flowered racemes at each node are interpreted as responses to selection pressures in the seasonal climate of a northern, mixed woodland environment. |
