Dichogamy correlates with outcrossing rate and defines the selfing syndrome in the mixed-mating genus Collinsia

摘要

Background and AimsHow and why plants evolve to become selfing is a long-standing evolutionary puzzle. The transition from outcrossing to highly selfing is less well understood in self-compatible (SC) mixed-mating (MM) species where potentially subtle interactions between floral phenotypes and the environment are at play. We examined floral morphological and developmental traits across an entire SC MM genus, Collinsia, to determine which, if any, predict potential autonomous selfing ability when pollinators are absent (AS) and actual selfing rates in the wild, sm, and to best define the selfing syndrome for this clade.