The perfume flowers ofCyphomandra (Solanaceae): Pollination by euglossine bees, bellows mechanism, osmophores, and volatiles

1993

The perfume syndrome and pollination by fragrance-collecting euglossine bees in the neotropic solanaceous genusCyphomandra was confirmed by field observations. In SE Brazil,C. sciadostylis was visited byEufriesea violaceae, andC. diploconos byEuglossa mandibularis; C. hartwegii was pollinated byEulaema meriana in Costa Rica. The primary attractant, fragrant droplets that ooze from the dorsally bulged connectives, is mopped up by the males with the forebasitarsi. Thereby, the poricidal thecae are inadvertently pushed causing the dry pollen to dust the bee's sternum. The number and direction of the pollen jets are related to pollinator size and stigma structure. The flowers are homogamous, se…