Some evolutionary aspects of a water stress on flowering in the Tropics

Abstract

An attempt was made to investigate some of the adaptations that allow certain nopical plants to flower during the wet season. This was done by comparing floral morphology and pollen resistance to different humidity conditions in two regions of Costa Rica, one dry and one humid. A good correlation was found between the amount of precipitation during flowering of a given species and the degree of pollen resistance to humidity. There appears to be no correlation between floral morphology and pollen sensitivity to water.