Distyly and floral morphology of Psychotria cephalophora (Rubiaceae) on the oceanic Lanyu (Orchid) Island, Taiwan

BACKGROUND: Psychotria cephalophora Merr. (Rubiaceae), a shrub in oceanic islands of Taiwan and the Philippines, appears to be distylous, but distyly is usually rare on oceanic islands. To elucidate the functional breeding system of P. cephalophora can improve our understanding of plant reproductive ecology on oceanic islands. RESULTS: Field investigations on Lanyu (Orchid Island) off the coast of southeastern Taiwan revealed the flowers to be distylous with short (S)- and long (L)-styled morphs, with only one morph per individual. Laboratory observations revealed that both morphs had stainable pollen grains and indicated dimorphism in stigmatic papillae and pollen size. In hand pollination experiments, the pollen tubes reached the base of the style in intermorph crossing, whereas they rarely penetrated stylar tissue in intramorph crossing and selfing. Open pollinated S- and L-styled flowers produced fruit. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the breeding system of P. cephalophora is morphologically and functionally distylous. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40529-015-0091-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.