Abstract
Several floral traits in Papilionoideae (Fabaceae) have been correlated to certain pollination mechanisms. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed 20 qualitative and 21 quantitative floral traits of 17 species of Papilionoideae with keel flowers from various tribes and genera native to Salta, Argentina, which are representative of the four general pollination mechanisms described for the subfamily. We performed field and laboratory studies, including description of morphology, micro-morphology, position, size, and synorganization of all floral organs. Correlation between floral traits and a particular pollination mechanism was evaluated through a principal component analysis (PCA). According to our results, species with the same pollination mechanism share similar qualitative and quantitative traits, the latter being the most relevant, according to our statistical analysis.
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Acknowledgements
This work constitutes part of the MMA doctoral thesis. The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers for the insightful comments that have improved this manuscript. The authors thank N. Frizza and C. Machado Assefh for their assistance with the English version of the manuscript. This study was funded by grants from PROMAGRO and PROFITE (to MMA), and the Research Council of the National University of Salta (CIUNSa Projects 2120 and 2196).
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The following is Supplementary data to this article: Online Resource 1a, b, c, d. Online Resource 1a contains the morphological qualitative traits registered in keel flowers of Papilionoideae (Leguminosae) native to Salta, Argentina. Online Resource 1b contains the morphological quantitative traits registered in keel flowers of Papilionoideae (Leguminosae) native to Salta studied in this work. Online Resource 1c shows the Eigenvalues of the PCA, and Online Resource 1d shows the Eigenvectors of the PCA.
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Alemán, M.M., Hoc, P., Etcheverry, Á.V. et al. Morphological traits in keel flowers of Papilionoideae (Fabaceae) and their relationships with the pollination mechanisms. Plant Syst Evol 308, 43 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-022-01826-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-022-01826-y