Floral biology and pollination of solanum sisymbrifolium lamk.

The present paper deals with flower morphology, anthesis, pollen production, pollen ovule ratio, foraging behaviour of flower visitors, pollen germination (in vitro and in vivo) and stigma receptivity of Solanum sisymbrifolium Lamk. belonging to the family Solanaceae, which is an important medicinal plant. The flowers open in between 5.00 to 7.00 hrs. As soon as flowers open, different insects like Thrips, Ceratina viridissima, Apis sp., Amegilla sp., Xylocopa sp. and few members of Lepidoptera, Diptera and Coleoptera visit flowers to collect forage materials and help in pollination. A single flower produces an average of 4,475,266 pollen grains and pollen ovule ratio was obtained 14918:1. The maximum (90%) pollen germination along with 1305m tube development was observed in 20% sucrose solution supplemented with 100ppm boric acid. In vivo pollen germination showed that the stigma receptivity was maximum (70%) at first day after anthesis and showing 90.54% in vivo germinating pollen along with 1406m pollen tube over stigma head.