Reproductive Biology of Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleo.) Barb. (Asclepiadaceae), an Invasive Alien in Ontario

Abstract

ST. DENIS, M. AND N. CAPPUCCINO (Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6 Canada). Reproductive biology of Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleo.) Barb. (Asclepiadaceae), an invasive alien in Ontario. J. TORREY BOT. SOC. 131:8-15. 2004.-We investigated the reproductive biology of the alien invasive vine Vincetoxicum rossicum (Asclepiadaceae) and evaluated pollinator visitation rate in the field, evidenced by missing pollinaria, to flowers of isolated plants and those of plants in dense monocultures. Flowers in dense monocultures were visited less frequently than those on isolated plants surrounded by old-field grasses. Visited flowers were more likely to produce fruit and those fruits contained more polyembryonic seeds. However, a greenhouse experiment in which we crossor self-pollinated flowers revealed no difference in fruit set, seed production, seed weight or embryony. This suggests that the higher fruit set and greater polyembryony of visited flowers in the field was not the consequence of visitation, but may have been the result of floral visitors having chosen the most vigorous flowers. Day-old flowers emasculated in the greenhouse experiment occasionally produced a fruit, indicating that the germination of self-pollen begins the day a flower opens. The ability to produce large numbers of selfed seeds is no doubt advantageous to this highly invasive asclepiad.