Floral morphology of blueberry (Vaccinium ashei Reade) and stigma pollen deposition

Abstract

<p><span>We measured five floral traits in each flower, on 50 flowers for each cultivar (Bluebelle, Bluegem, Britteblue, Climax, Powderblue, Woodard, Florida, and Delite) of blueberry (<em>Vaccinium ashei</em> Reade). In total, 750 flowers in four locations in the Rio Grande do Sul State, in Brazil, were analyzed. To assess the impact of floral morphology on pollination, we counted the number of pollen grains on the stigma of flowers after 24 hours of free visitation. The dataset was used to verified whether floral morphology differs between eight blueberry cultivars and, if this variation influences pollination, to infer the role of floral morphology in the interaction with floral visitors.</span></p&gt