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Nectar secretion in a dry habitat: structure of the nectary in two endangered Mexican species of Barkeria (Orchidaceae)

Barkeria scandens and B. whartoniana are endangered, endemic taxa from Mexico. They are epiphytes adapted to dry habitats. Since these plants are xerophytic, their flowers were investigated for structural adaptations to nectar secretion. The flowers of both species are structurally similar, and cont...

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Autores principales: Stpiczyńska, Małgorzata, Kamińska, Magdalena, Davies, Kevin L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8340907/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34414032
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11874
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author Stpiczyńska, Małgorzata
Kamińska, Magdalena
Davies, Kevin L.
author_facet Stpiczyńska, Małgorzata
Kamińska, Magdalena
Davies, Kevin L.
author_sort Stpiczyńska, Małgorzata
collection PubMed
description Barkeria scandens and B. whartoniana are endangered, endemic taxa from Mexico. They are epiphytes adapted to dry habitats. Since these plants are xerophytic, their flowers were investigated for structural adaptations to nectar secretion. The flowers of both species are structurally similar, and contrary to most claims for the genus, have functional floral nectaries comprising a nectary chamber and a narrow tubular cuniculus. Nectar is present in both these structures, and contains sugars and lipid-like compounds. The nectary tissue is composed of a single-layered epidermis overlying 1–2 layers of subepidermal secretory parenchyma. The outer tangential wall of the epidermal cells is thick and multi-layered, whereas the cuticle, which often shows blistering, is lamellate and possesses micro-channels. Lipid-like material occurs both between the microfibrils of the cell wall and in the micro-channels. Robust secretory tissue, thick cell walls, and lipid-like nectar components limit nectar evaporation. Moreover, the rigidity of the nectary potentially makes it possible for red-flowered B. scandens to switch from entomophily to ornithophily.
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spelling pubmed-83409072021-08-18 Nectar secretion in a dry habitat: structure of the nectary in two endangered Mexican species of Barkeria (Orchidaceae) Stpiczyńska, Małgorzata Kamińska, Magdalena Davies, Kevin L. PeerJ Plant Science Barkeria scandens and B. whartoniana are endangered, endemic taxa from Mexico. They are epiphytes adapted to dry habitats. Since these plants are xerophytic, their flowers were investigated for structural adaptations to nectar secretion. The flowers of both species are structurally similar, and contrary to most claims for the genus, have functional floral nectaries comprising a nectary chamber and a narrow tubular cuniculus. Nectar is present in both these structures, and contains sugars and lipid-like compounds. The nectary tissue is composed of a single-layered epidermis overlying 1–2 layers of subepidermal secretory parenchyma. The outer tangential wall of the epidermal cells is thick and multi-layered, whereas the cuticle, which often shows blistering, is lamellate and possesses micro-channels. Lipid-like material occurs both between the microfibrils of the cell wall and in the micro-channels. Robust secretory tissue, thick cell walls, and lipid-like nectar components limit nectar evaporation. Moreover, the rigidity of the nectary potentially makes it possible for red-flowered B. scandens to switch from entomophily to ornithophily. PeerJ Inc. 2021-08-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8340907/ /pubmed/34414032 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11874 Text en © 2021 Stpiczyńska et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Stpiczyńska, Małgorzata
Kamińska, Magdalena
Davies, Kevin L.
Nectar secretion in a dry habitat: structure of the nectary in two endangered Mexican species of Barkeria (Orchidaceae)
title Nectar secretion in a dry habitat: structure of the nectary in two endangered Mexican species of Barkeria (Orchidaceae)
title_full Nectar secretion in a dry habitat: structure of the nectary in two endangered Mexican species of Barkeria (Orchidaceae)
title_fullStr Nectar secretion in a dry habitat: structure of the nectary in two endangered Mexican species of Barkeria (Orchidaceae)
title_full_unstemmed Nectar secretion in a dry habitat: structure of the nectary in two endangered Mexican species of Barkeria (Orchidaceae)
title_short Nectar secretion in a dry habitat: structure of the nectary in two endangered Mexican species of Barkeria (Orchidaceae)
title_sort nectar secretion in a dry habitat: structure of the nectary in two endangered mexican species of barkeria (orchidaceae)
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8340907/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34414032
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11874
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