title: In the right place at the right time: Parnassia resolves the herkogamy dilemma by accurate repositioning of stamens and stigmas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Spatial (herkogamy) and temporal (dichogamy) separation of pollen presentation and stigma receptivity have been interpreted as reducing interference between male and female functions in hermaphroditic flowers. However, spatial separation leads to a potential conflict: reduced pollination accuracy, where pollen may be placed in a location on the pollinator different from the point of stigma contact.
  
  
  METHODS
  To understand better how herkogamous flowers resolve this conflict, a study was made of a subalpine herb, Parnassia epunctulata, the nectariferous flowers of which exhibit sequential anther dehiscence (staggered pollen presentation) and stamen movements; usually one newly dehisced anther is positioned each day over the central gynoecium, while the older stamens bend away from the central position.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The open flowers were visited by a variety of pollinators, most of which were flies. Seed set was pollinator-dependent (bagged flowers set almost no seeds) and pollen-limited (manual pollination increased seed set over open pollination). Analyses of adaptive accuracy showed that coordinated stamen movements and style elongation (movement herkogamy) dramatically increased pollination accuracy. Specifically, dehiscing anthers and receptive stigmas were positioned accurately in the vertical and horizontal planes in relation to the opposite sexual structure and pollinator position. By contrast, the spatial correspondence between anthers and stigma was dramatically lower before the anthers dehisced and after stamens bent outwards, as well as before and after the period of stigmatic receptivity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is shown for the first time that a combination of movement herkogamy and dichogamy can maintain high pollination accuracy in flowers with generalized pollination. Staggered pollen and stigma presentation with spatial correspondence can both reduce sexual interference and improve pollination accuracy.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2DY, UK.
authors.forename: W Scott
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Armbruster
authors.forename: Sarah A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Corbet
authors.forename: Aidan J M
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Vey
authors.forename: Shu-Juan
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shuang-Quan
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D035264:Flowers / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D007313:Insecta; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D011058:Pollen; D054817:Pollination
keywords: Adaptive accuracy; Celastraceae; Parnassia epunctulata; Parnassiaceae; dichogamy; generalist pollination; herkogamy; mating system; sexual interference; staggered pollen presentation; stamen movement