POLLINATION ECOLOGY OF PLATONIA INSIGNIS MART. (CLUSIACEAE), A FRUIT TREE FROM EASTERN AMAZON REGION

The floral biology of bacuri, Platonia insignis Mart., a fruit tree endemic to the Eastern Amazon Region, was investigated in Belém (1° 27’S 48°29) and in Tracuateua (1°05’S 46°54’W), in the eastern region of Pará State, Brazil.
Among the studied themes are the animal visitors, time of flower opening, nectar volume and sugar concentration (brix), flower morphology, stigma receptivity, pollen grain viability and the reproductive system.
The flowers open around 6:00 a.m., showing attractive colors (pink to red) offering pollen and nectar copiously.
The reproductive system is allogamous.
Two groups of floral visitors were found: birds and insects.
The main pollinators were birds of the families Psittacidae (Pionites l. leucogaster, Brotogeris chrysopterus tuipara and Aratinga l. leucophthalmus); Icteridae (Cacicus cela) and Thraupidae (Cyanerpes caeruleus, Ramphocelus c. carbo, Thraupis e. episcopus and Thraupis p. palmarum). Wasps and stingless bees were found gathering pollen, without pollinating the flowers.
It is concluded that P. insignis is an allogamous species with an ornithophilous pollination syndrome.

VII International Symposium on Pollination

M.M. Maués, G.C. Venturieri

Pollination, Platonia insignis, Clusiaceae, Parakeets, Psittacidae, Ornithophily

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.437.29