High herkogamy but low reciprocity characterizes isoplethic populations of Jasminum malabaricum, a species with stigma-height dimorphism.

Studies of floral polymorphisms have focused on heterostyly, while stigma-height dimorphism has received considerably less attention. Few studies have examined the reproductive biology of species with stigma-height dimorphism to understand how factors influencing mate availability and pollen transfer are related to morph ratios in populations. Floral morphological traits, especially herkogamy and reciprocity, pollinator visitation, breeding system and spatiotemporal mate availability, are known to affect inter-morph pollination and morph ratios in species with stigma-height dimorphism. In this study, we investigated the presence of stigma-height dimorphism and estimated morph ratios in four naturally occurring populations of Jasminum malabaricum. We quantified morph- and population-specific differences in the abovementioned factors in these populations to understand the observed morph ratios. The positions of anthers and stigmas were characteristic of stigma-height dimorphism, the first report of this polymorphism in the genus. All study populations were isoplethic, implying equal fitness of both morphs. Herkogamy was higher in the short-styled morph, while reciprocity was higher between the long-styled stigma and short-styled anthers. Long- and short-tongued pollinators were common floral visitors, and we observed no differences between morphs in spatiotemporal mate availability or pollinator visitation. Neither morph exhibited self- or heteromorphic incompatibility. The short-styled stigma had lower reciprocity but likely receives sufficient inter-morph pollen from long-tongued pollinators, and also by avoiding self-pollination due to higher herkogamy. These results highlight the importance of sufficient effective pollinators and floral morphological features, particularly herkogamy, in maintaining isoplethy in species with stigma-height dimorphism.

Phylogenetic analysis and evolution of morphological characters in the genus Jasminum L. (Oleaceae) in India.

Jasminum L. (Oleaceae) consists of ∼200 species that are distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions of the world. In India, this genus is represented by ca 47 species of which 16 are endemic. Based on the nuclear (internal-transcribed spacer (ITS) region of nrDNA and chloroplast markers (matK, trnL-F and trnH-psbA), phylogenetic relationships in 22 species including one variety of Jasminum in India have been assessed. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses from individual markers, as well as from combined dataset, reveal that the group is monophyletic if Menodora spp. are excluded from the analyses. Our analyses recovered three strongly supported clades. Ancestral character state reconstruction of taxonomically useful characters (leaf forms, leaf arrangement and flower colour) which were used to demarcate sections within the genus reveals homoplasy. Our study suggests that after split from the last common ancestor, there have been at least four reversals to unifoliolate condition. Pinnately compound leaf form evolved at least twice and trifoliolate condition evolved one time only. Alternate leaf form evolved at least twice, once inclade 1 and once in clade 3 and all the time from ancestors having opposite leaf forms. Flower colour evolution clearly depicts that clade 1 is yellow-flowered and clades 2 and 3 have admixture of white and yellow-flowered Jasminum species. Our study suggests that yellow-flowered condition evolved from the white-flowered ancestor. The present study is first to estimate the evolutionary history of Indian Jasmines.

[Quality standard of zhuang medicine jasmini sambacis flos].

OBJECTIVE: To study the qualitative and quantitative determination of Zhuang medicine Jasmini Sambacis Flos and establish its quality control standard. METHODS: Macroscopic, microscopic and TLC identification were adopted to carry out the qualitative identification, the mensuration of inspection items and extractum were according to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. The contents of quercetin and kaempferide in Jasmini Sambacis Flos were determined by HPLC. RESULTS: The qualitative identification methods had strong specificity. In HPLC quantitative determination, the linear range of quercetin and kaempferide was in the range of 0.4008 - 3.2064 microg and 0.0403 - 3.2256 microg, respectively. CONCLUSION: These methods are simple, accurate and reproducible, and can be used to control the quality of Jasmini Sambacis Flos effectively.