Palm Pollination — how little we know

[swolf]

Concluding statement from an exhaustive 2024 research article:

“In summary, pollination in palms is extremely complex and we still know little about it.”

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381618035_Pollination_Systems_of_Palms_Arecaceae/fulltext/6679aecc1846ca33b84f7f59/Pollination-Systems-of-Palms-Arecaceae.pdf?origin=publication_detail&_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwcmV2aW91c1BhZ2UiOiJwdWJsaWNhdGlvbiJ9fQ
 

Stepping back, in the case of the ‘Mule Palm’, I wonder how the mother Butia palm is able to select for its own pollen vs. copious amounts from the related genera Syagrus?  As far back as the 1950’s it was established that 5% hybrids/95% non-hybrids was all that will naturally occur:

”… it was apparent that about 5% were different. The original seed came from a street planting in Leesburg [FL] that was heavily planted in Arecastrum and Butia palms. Seed was also gathered from other adjacent counties where the two species grew in close proximity.  Ross Lafler made hand pollinations by tying the Arecastrum inflorescence to that of Butia.  He placed bee hives under the trees, as well as other methods of producing seed, but was never able to get over 5% hybrids. Butia was always used as the maternal plant;”

But most of the article linked above is about the variety of insects that pollenate specific genera/species and how even something like timing of initial flower anthesis (morning vs. ‘nocturnal’) impacts that:

“Syagrus may be one of the few examples where the shift between bee and beetle pollination has occurred within the same genus, a shift usually found between genera. This can be seen by comparing two species, S. orinocensis (Nuñez & Carreño-Barrera 2017) and S. smithii (Guerrero- Olaya & Núñez 2017). Both species occur in eastern Colombia and are very similar to one another in inflorescence and flower morphology. Their inflorescence development is almost identical. Syagrus orinocensis has 8–16 days of staminate anthesis, an eight day inter-anthesis period, and 2– 3 days of pistillate anthesis; S. smithii has 14 days, 10 days, and four days, respectively. However, there is one significant difference. Flowers of S. orinocensis open early in the morning and so have diurnal anthesis, those of S. smithii open in the late afternoon and so have nocturnal anthesis. Given the similarity in insect visitors to the two species, especially Curculionidae, Nitidulidae, and Hymenoptera, and the difference in anthesis, it is inevitable that S. orinocensis is pollinated
predominantly by bees and S. smithii by beetles. Nuñez & Carreño-Barrera (2017) designated the 43 species of insect visitors to S. orinocensis inflorescences into groups based on their behaviour. Twelve species of meliponid bees were designated as principal or co-pollinators and five species of Curculionidae were designated co- pollinators. For S. smithii, of the 37 species of insect visitor, two species of Nitidulidae (Mystrops spp.) were designated as principal pollinators, but not any Hymenoptera.
Syagrus inajai, S. orinocensis, S. sancona, and S. smithii are all in the same clade (Ferreira et al. in prep.). If the basal species in this clade, S. sancona, is presumed to be beetle-pollinated (Guerrero- Olaya et al. 2018), then at least one shift can be inferred from beetle pollination to bee pollination. This shift in pollinators is associated with a change in the time of anthesis, from diurnal to nocturnal. Diurnal anthesis is often associated with nectar production (as in pistillate flowers of S. orinocensis) and nocturnal anthesis associated with no nectar production and temperature elevation (as in S. inajai).“

Eccl. 3:11, Berean Standard Bible:
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.”

[Alberto]

Really interesting stuff.  Since I have tried many hybridization in the past,  some were easy and others didn't work. For example: Syagrus inajai didn' t produce any seeds and S. glaucescens produced viable seeds when B. eriospatha flowers were pollinated.....