Coexistence of Delayed Autonomous Self pollination and Deceptive Pollination in Arthropodium cirratum (Asparagaceae)

Delayed autonomous pollination and deceptive pollination are assumed to be relatively common in flowering plants, but no species have been reported to use both of these cunning reproductive strategies. In this study, we examined whether delayed selfing and mimicry were used concurrently in Arthropodium cirratum. Flowers of A.cirratum were manipulated to assess whether their stamen appendages and corolla closing movements were functional in deceptive pollination and delayed selfing, respectively. Our results indicated that anther or pollen imitation of the yellow stamen appendages contributed to 93 per cent of successful mimetic attraction, and this mimicry was an important driver of cross pollination of the species. In addition, we observed closure of the perianth relocated the stamens over the stigma at the end of anthesis, which significantly increased the average seed number per fruit of intact flowers over flowers emasculated before closure (20.62 versus 11.79). Our findings confirmed the coexistence of delayed autonomous self pollination and deceptive pollination in A.cirratum. Our results also suggested that delayed selfing could add fitness benefits for this mimetic attraction species.