Reproduction in Mediterranean plants

The authors consider sexual reproduction in Mediterranean Angiosperms and Gymnosperms and its connections with some environmental factors. Firstly it is examined the monthly distribution of the blooming periods: out of the 666 considered Angiosperm species, most of which remain in bloom over several months, 518 bloom during May and 495 during April, whilst less than 100 species bloom from September through February. It is then considered the reproductive cycle—from blooming to seed dispersal—which is very short in most of the plants. However the authors examine in detail also the cycles of species commonly considered representative for the Mediterranean area (Pinus halepensis Mill., P. pinea L., P. pinaster Aiton, Quercus macrolepis Kotschy, Q. suber L., Q. coccifera L. and Arbutus unedo L.), but in which the reproductive cycles last one year or more. It is also described a short cycle, the cycle of Cytinus hypocistis L. with its peculiar environmental devices. Finally the effects are predicted of drought and rainfalls (the main metereological parameters for the Mediterranean area) on plant reproduction, in particular on both pollination and seed dispersal, namely the two steps which may be more easily affected. Both heavy rainfalls and drought hinder these processes, by damaging the plant themselves and the reproductive apparatuses, or by depressing the vectors of pollen and seed dispersal. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC