ISHS Acta Horticulturae 541: IV International Symposium on New Floricultural Crops
NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL POLLINATION OF EBENUS CRETICA L. |
| Authors: | M.E. Lydaki, J.C. Vlahos |
| Keywords: | Ebenus cretica, endemic plant, pollination, breeding techniques |
| Abstract:
Ebenus cretica L. Fabaceae, is an endemic plant of Crete with potential for use in commercial floriculture. It is a herbaceous perennial evergreen sub-shrub that flowers from April to June. It forms numerous thick racemes with an average of 50 pink or purple flowers 10 to 12 mm long. A great variability in major morphological characteristics exists among the populations of E. cretica on the island, however color variants are very rare. Selection and breeding is a necessary prerequisite before the plant is marketable, therefore research conducted at the TEI of Heraklion since 1994 has focused on natural and artificial self and cross pollination of pink flowered Ebenus plants. It has been concluded that the zygomorphic flowers of E. cretica are pollinated by insects (bubblebees); the tripping mechanism occurs and seeds are formed by either cross or self pollination. For controlled self-pollination, unripe flower racemes were enveloped in paper bags and shaken by hand or wind to release pollen; however this method gave poor results. Best results were obtained by tripping the flowers while avoiding the introduction of foreign pollen. Self-incompatibility was not observed. Artificial cross-pollination was achieved by emasculating flowers on the female parent, two to four days prior to the dehiscence of the anthers. The corolla is half white and half pink at this stage, turning to a uniform pink when the pollen is ripe. The stigma appears to be fully receptive two days before the dehiscence of the anthers. Each fertilized ovule gives one mature seed approximately three weeks after pollination. This research indicates that breeding techniques can be applied without difficulty to E. cretica in order to develop uniform plant material and new varieties/hybrids with desirable characteristics. | |
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