Yaye Kène Gassama-Dia , Djibril Sané, Mansor N'Doye

Reproductive biology of Faidherbia albida (Del.) A. Chev

Gassama-Dia Y. K., Sané D., N'Doye M. (2003). Reproductive biology of Faidherbia albida (Del.) A. Chev. Silva Fennica vol. 37 no. 4 article id 482. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.482

Abstract

Phenology, flowering and fructification were studied in 5 natural populations of Faidherbia albida in a semi-arid zone in Senegal. In this species, the inflorescence acts as the reproductive unit; the basal flowers, opening first, have a low rate of fertilisation; the maximum rate of fertilisation (65%) was obtained in the apical flowers. Stigmatic receptivity, tested by esterasic reaction, was maximal immediately after anthesis. Stigmata of F. albida can bear simultaneously 2 or 3 polyads. Controlled pollination revealed that allogamy is the dominant reproductive system (ISI = 0.2) in natural populations of F. albida. Intra-specific variability in selfing (ISI ranging from 0 to 0.54) was also observed. Despite of the complete reproductive mechanism during flowering, only a small number of ripe pods (1.25%) is produced, and an average of 70% of the ovules per carpel are fertilized.

Keywords
flowering; selfing; Faidherbia albida; fructification; polyad; allogamy

Received 1 September 2000 Accepted 7 July 2003 Published 31 December 2003

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