knowledge about floral morphology of any crop is a prerequisite for successful breeding programme as well as for higher production.

1. 1

2. Assignment on
Floral biology of temperate and sub-tropical fruit crops
Course : FSC 502
Temperate and sub-tropical
fruit production (2+1)
2
Prepared by:
Rajatiya JignasaH.
M. Sc. (Horti.) Fruit Science

3. Introduction
oFloral biology is an area of ecological research that studies
the evolutionary factors that have moulded the structures,
behaviour and physiological aspects involved in the
flowering of plants.
oThe timing of flowering, the duration of flowering and the
mode by which they cease to function once their role is
fulfilled are all areas of research within the field of floral
biology.
3

4. Floweringprocess
Induction
Initiation
Differentiation
Development
4

5. Majorfactorsforinductionofflowering
o Environmental factor
o Internal factors
o Soil factor
o Horticultural traits
o Cultural practices
5

6. Dormant period
oAs the temperatures from the late fall continue to drop, the
tree enters a period of rest that lasts through December
/Early January.
oAt this time, the tree has dropped all of its leaves
naturally.
oHelps in the development of the fruit buds. The tree
requires a certain amount of chilling hours to come out of
dormancy.
6

7. Dormant treeof apple
7

8. Delayed dormant
oIn late January/early February the tree begins to push a
flush of fine feeder roots.
oDelayed dormancy is described as the period of fruit bud
swell until the green tip.
oDuring this period, preparations for bloom occur in all
temperate fruit crops.
8

9. Delayed dormanttree
Leaf bud
Fruit bud
9

10. Bloom
oFlower buds begin expanding ahead of leaf and shoot buds
around Mid-February to Mid-March.
oThe timing of the bloom is dependent upon the variety
which is related to the amount of chilling hours received.
10

11. Apple
o Chilling requirement :- 1000-1600hrs
o The fruit buds are usually developed on spurs. However, buds
may also develop on tips of 1 year old shoots.
o Buds are mixed, with 5 to 8 flowers and similar number of
leaves. Central flower is frequently larger and earlier and is
called the king flower.
o The flower is epigynous, the ovary being enclosed by non-
ovarian tissue that remains attached to the ovary at harvest,
giving rise to a false fruit or pome.
o Flowers contain 5 sepals, 5 petals, 5 style and about 20
stamens.
11

12. Apple flower buds (FB) are often initiated on terminal buds of short
shoots called spurs, the axis of the spur is called the bourse (B).
12

13. Apple flower
13

14. 14

15. o A normal flower consists of five carpels, each with two ovules,
therefore fruit contains up to ten seeds.
o Most apple cultivars require cross-pollination to set fruit due to
self incompatibility and triploidy nature of cultivars.
o Pollen grains are large and heavy resulting in very little wind
pollination. Apis mellifera is the principle pollinator of apple.
o Pollen fertility of most apple cultivars is close to 100% but is
reduced in some cultivars, such as 'McIntosh', by unknown factors
and in others, such as 'Jonagold', by triploidy.
15

16. Dennis (2003) reported the flower development takes roughly 10
months, beginning with the transition from vegetative to reproductive
development (late June in the Northern Hemisphere) and ending
with anthesis (late April to the beginning of May) in the subsequent
year.
Sharma et al. (2005) reported that the flowering is started in the
second to third week of March. Full bloom was recorded in the fourth
week of April and flowering period was 16-19 days. Stigma attained
receptivity 2 days prior to anthesis and remained receptive up to 2 days
after anthesis with peak receptivity on the day of anthesis.
16

17. Stages of apple flower development
Silver Tip Green Tip Tight ClusterHalf-Inch Green
First Pink Full Pink King Bloom Full Bloom
17

18. Dormant tree
Full blooming tree
18

19. Pear
oChilling requirement :- 1200 hrs.
oThe flower borne from terminal, mixed buds of short spurs,
appearing before or with the leaves. The spurs are very short
and lateral branches.
oFlower corymbose inflorescences, 5-7.5 cm wide, containing
5-7 showy white, 2.5-3.5 cm wide flower and protogynous.
Each flower has 5-6 petals, 20-30 pink, red or purple anthers
with 2 to 5 free style.
oThe ovary is epigynous, or inferior, with the 5-carpellate ovary
embedded in receptacle tissue, containing up to 10 ovules (2 per
carpel); peduncle thin, 2.5-5 cm long.
19

20. oAccording to Farkas and Orosz-Kovacs (2009) stigma in pear
flowers starts to functional 1-4 days before anther dehiscence and
it lost turgidity, collapsed and turned brown 46-98 hrs after
anthesis, depending upon the weather conditions.
oPears are self-sterile and need more than one variety planted within
12 or 15 m of each other in order to cross-pollinate. It flowers
around March-April, while fruiting occurs in July-September.
Honeybee is the main pollinator.
Dhaliwal et al. (1982) reported the peak period of anthesis
was between 10:00 and 1:00 hr and pollen dehiscence took
place between 12:00 and 4:00 hr.
20

21. Stages of pear flower development
Swollen Bud Bud Burst Green Cluster Popcorn stage
Petal FallFull BloomKing BlossomFull White
21

22. Dormant spur
Full bloom
22

23. Peach
o Chilling requirement: 500-800 hrs.
o Flowers bear on one year old shoots which are reddish-green
and turn dark grey silver when old. Generally, on a fruiting
shoot, each node bears three buds. Two lateral flower buds
and one vegetative bud in the middle.
o Peach flower is hermaphrodite, perigynous and pale to
dark pink in colour, however, white to dark red flowers are
also found. There are five sepals, five petals arranged
alternately and 30 stamens or more.
23

24. Perigynous flower
24

25. o The petals are separated and there are two shapes of corolla:
Showy (rose shaped) with large petals(anther hidden until the
petal separate)
Non-showy (bell shaped) with smaller petals, the anthers
protrude beyond the corolla. They can shed pollen even before
complete anthesis.
Showy flower Non-showy flower
25

26. o Peach flowers open as the day warms up. Pistil become receptive
1 or 2 days after anthesis and remains receptive for several days.
The pistil has two ovules however, usually only one develops into
seed.
o Most of the peach cultivars are self-fruitful and self-pollinated by
wind and movement of flower parts. However, fruit set is enhanced
by bees and other pollinators. Peach cultivars viz. J.H. Hale, June
Elberta, Canoka, Chinese Cling and Giant are self sterile.
Pollen sterile cultivars are rarely grown commercially due to
problems with fruit set but J.H. Hale was the most widely grown,
pollen sterile cultivar. In peach, fruit set ranges from 30 to 55 %.
26

27. Meena et al. (2011) revealed that the cv. Partap was early and
Shan-e-Punjab was late in respect to flowering. The average
numbers of days taken for transformation of buds from first to last
stage were observed to be 8.67. The anthesis and dehiscence in all
three cultivars were noted to be at their peak between 12.00 to 2.00
P.M. Highest pollen viability (94.28%) and pollen germination
(28.50%) was observed in cv. Shan-e-Punjab. The maximum
stigmatic receptivity of 94.44% was recorded on the day of
anthesis.
27

28. Stages of peach flower development
Swollen Bud Calyx Green Calyx Red First Pink
First Bloom Full Bloom Post-bloom
28

29. Dormant tree
Full blooming tree
29

30. Dormant tree Full blooming tree
Tatura trellis
30

31. Plum
o Chilling requirement: 300-1000 hrs.
o The flowers of plum are initiated generally before or rarely
with the leaves in the lateral buds of both current season’s shoots
and new growth on older spurs. Two buds usually appear from
node containing 2-3 flowers.
o Plum flowers are small, attractive, white in colour, complete,
perfect and perigynous. Usually sepals and petals are 5 in
number.
o Self-fertile plum varieties have 20-23 stamens while self-sterile
varieties have 24-32 stamens in a flower. When fully open, the
stamens are of about the same length as the petals.
31

32. 32

33. o The flowering period of Japanese plum is generally shorter than
that of European plum.
o Majority of Japanese plum cultivars are self-unfruitful and
require cross pollination. Honey bees are considered to be the
most important single pollinator in plum orchards.
Randhwa and Nair (1960) observed that the completion of
anthesis took place within 2 days. Dehiscence of the anthers was
completed within 2 days of the flower opening. The stigma was
receptive from 1 day before anthesis and for 3 days in all
varieties except Alucha Black which remained receptive for 4 days
after anthesis.
33

34. Stages of plum flower development
Bud swell Green bud Green tip
Popcorn stage Full bloom Early petal fall
34

35. European plum
Japanese plum
35

36. Full bloomFlower buds
36

37. cherry
o Chilling requirement: 1000-1500 hrs.
o Flowers are borne on long lived (10 to 20 years) spurs on 2-
years and older wood, while few are borne near the base of 1-
year shoots.
o Each bud contains two to four flowers and many buds are
crowded at each spur and are surrounded by several bud scales.
Thus, at full bloom the trees appear extremely floriferous with
all branches literally roped with flowers.
o The center most part of cherry flower is a simple pistil, consisting
of swollen basal portion or ovary, the slender style.
37

38. 38

39. o Flowers of genus Prunus have five petals, numerous stamens, a
single style and an ovary with a single carpel containing two
ovules. Primary ovule develops into the seed while the
secondary ovule abort very early.
o The flowers remains open for 7-8 days, and the stigma is
receptive at the opening of flower, however, the anthers are
closed. Anther begins dehiscing shortly after flowers open and
continue into second day (Srivastava and Singh, 1970).
o Most of the cherry varieties are self-incompatible as well cross-
incompatible, therefore compatibility of varieties is required for
cross-pollination. Incompatibility of varieties is governed by
sterility allele.
39

40. Incompatibility groups of some important varieties of sweet cherry
Group Variety
Sterility
allele
I BlackEagle, Black Downton, Black Tartarian, Early Rivers S1S2
II Black Heart, Black Elton, Victoria, Merton Bigarreau, Van S1S3
III Bigarreau Napolean, Ving, Star, Lambert S3S4
IV White Bigarreau, Sue, Victor, Merton Heart, Velvet S2S3
V Bohemain Black, Late Black, Turkey Heart S3S5
VI Elton Heart, Governor Wood, Early Amber S3S6
VII Black Republican, Vic S4S5
VIII Peggy Rivers, Schmidt, Giant S2S5
XI Red Turk, Black Giant, Ursula Rivers S1S4
O Stella, Vista, Vega, Seneca
Universal
donors
40

41. Self incompatibility mechanism governed by sterility allele.
41

42. o The pollen grains are heavy and sticky and as such are
not carried to any extent by wind. Honey bees usually
carry the pollen grains from the anthers of one cultivar
to the stigma of other cultivars.
42

43. Stages of cherry flower development
Swollen Bud Bud Burst Tight Cluster Popcorn stage
Post-bloomFull BloomFirst Bloom
43

44. Apricot
o Chilling requirement: 300-900 hrs.
o The 2 flower buds usually appear from each node are separated
from one another by the middle vegetative bud.
o The flowers are simple, sessile, pentamerous, perigynous,
actinomorphic, complete, light pink and 35 stamens with
yellow anther.
o The calyx is gamosepalous with five sepals and light red in
colour.
o The corolla is polypetalous with 5 petals, 1.5 to 2.0 cm long and
white to light pink.
44

45. o Almost all commercial varieties are self unfruitful due to self
incompatibility.
o Apricot pollen grains are relatively heavy and are not well adapted
for wind pollination and hence pollinators are needed during
bloom to affect adequate pollen transfer. Honeybee is the
principal pollinator.
o Warm dry conditions during bloom period which contribute to
the proper dehiscence of anthers and release of pollen.
45

46. Stages of apricot flower development
Bud Swell Swollen Bud First White First Bloom
Post-bloomPetal FallFull Bloom
46

47. 47

48. Almomd
o Chilling requirement: 200-700 hrs.
o Flowers are hermaphrodite and have five fused sepals,
pubescent, purple-red in colour, five petals, variable in colour
white, pink or rose coloured, a variable number of stamens (20-
40), and one carpel with two ovules.
o Stigma is more receptive 2 to 3 days prior to anthesis and
remained so till 2-3 days after anthesis.
o The varieties are self-unfruitful except a local strain Sloh (peach
x almond).
48

49. o Pollination is mainly by honeybees.
o ‘Jeffries’, a natural mutant of the cultivar ‘Nonpareil’, has an
unusual characteristic; it will accept pollen from any cultivar
except itself. Thus, it can serve as universal pollinizer for many
other almond cultivars. Heterostyly may also observe in almond.
o IXL, Jordanalo, Ne-Plus-Ultra and Waris are the commercial
pollinizer varieties for almond.
49

50. Stages of almond flower development
Dormant spur Bud swell Green tip Pink bud
Popcorn stage Full bloom Petal fall
50

51. 51

52. Walnut
o Chilling requirement: 700-1500 hrs.
o All Juglans spp. are monoecious.
o Staminate (male) flowers are small and densely grouped in catkins
(10-15 cm long) that hang from the tree in the spring, borne laterally
on 1-year old wood. The individual flowers lack petals and consist of
a whorl of green sepals surrounding 40 pollen bearing stamens.
o Pistillate flowers are borne on current season’s growth, most often
in pairs at the tips of terminal shoots and in few cultivars from
lateral. It lack visible sepals and petals are pubescent, small and
green. female flowers comprises a supportive perianth made up of
four leaves in two pairs each.
52

53. o Walnut is a self-fertile or self-fruitful and cross-compatible. Pollen
grains are transported by winds, deposit on stigma and germination
starts after 7-8 hrs under warm and sunny conditions.
o Improvement in pollination and fruit set can be made by (1) hanging
of catkins of male flowers (2) planting of 3-4 varieties in the
orchards.
Female flower Male flower
53

54. Hazelnut
o Chilling requirement: 1000-1600 hrs.
oThe tree is monoecious, and the pollens are carried by wind to the
pistillate flowers.
oStaminate catkins (2-8 cm long) are borne on one year old wood
or terminally on short spurs which may also bear leaf or fruit bud.
Each catkins composed of 130-290 flowers.
oPistillate flowers are bud like, erect and approximately 5 mm
long usually borne on previous season’s growth.
54

55. oThe plants are generally self incompatible and most of the
cultivars are dichogamous. Therefore, cross pollination with
compatible pollinizer is required for optimal nut production.
Female
flower
Male
flower
55

56. Pistachionut
o Chilling requirement: 700-1000 hrs.
o It is a dioecious fruit species, in which pistillate and staminate
flowers are borne on different trees.
o The staminate flowers are with 2 braclets at the base and 1-2
sepals 3-5 stamens with short filaments.
o Pistilate flowers have 2-5 sepals, superior ovary with 1
tricarpelary ovary and short style.
56

57. o Both type of flowers are apetalous.
Ferguson et al., (2005) reported that the pistachio nut is pollinated
by wind as the bees though visit the male flowers for pollen but, do not
visit the female flowers as they lack pollen and nectar. The female and
male plants are planted in ratios 8:1 to 24:1. The average fruit set
ranges from 8 to 12 per cent and fruit set take place in second
fortnight of April.
Male
flower
Female
flower
57

58. strawberry
o Strawberry bears many flowers in clusters and a definite order
of flowering.
o Flowers are white in colour. Each flower contains five sepals,
five petals, 60-600 pistils and 25-35 stamens.
o The inflorescence is receme and has a dichotomic branching.
o Three types of flowers are found in octaploid species viz.
Pistillate, staminate and hermaphrodite. Most of the recently
bred cultivars are hermaphrodite.
o Strawberry cultivars have been categorized as short day (SD),
long day (LD) and day neutrals (DN) on the basis of
photoperiodic requirements for floral initiation.
58

59. o The SD cultivars are commonly called as June-bearing cultivars,
in which floral induction occurs with photoperiod of less than 14
hrs.
o The day neutrals are called as ever-bearing cultivars that
generally flower continuously regardless of the day length.
o The group of the long-day types is between ever-bearing and day
neutral types, which require long day conditions for floral
initiation.
Male Perfect Female
59

60. Dichotomic branch
60

61. Kiwi fruit
o Chilling requirement: 700-800 hrs.
o It is a dioecious fruit species, in which pistillate and staminate
flowers are borne on different trees.
o In staminate cultivars, flowers usually occur in groups of three or
more at each axil. The staminate vines generally bear 3700-3800
flowers per vine.
o In some pistillate cultivars (e.g. Monty), flowers are predominantly
in groups of three; while in others, largely Bruno or Hayward they
occur as single flowers.
o Female vines produce well developed pistil and stamens but stamens
produce only non-viable pollen grains.
61

62. o Female flowers have 30-35 styles fused at the base into a superior
ovary with the same carpels; each carpel contains 10-20 ovules.
These flowers are usually larger than males.
o Male flowers have rudimentary ovaries and reduced style, but a
pronounced whorl of many stamens which are longer than in flowers.
Rarely, these flowers set very small fruit, indicating that a self-
fruitful, hermaphrodite cultivars could be developed in the future.
Male flower Female flower 62

63. Chetanchidambar et al. (2016) observed that the kiwi plant
shows simple dichasium type of bearing habit. Flowering period
starts from second week of April to first week of May with total
duration of flowering of 32 days to complete 8 stages of floral
bud development. Maximum anthesis of flower occurs between 6
AM-8 AM in male flowers and 8 AM-10 AM in hermaphrodite
(female) flowers. Maximum anther dehiscence takes place 15
minutes after the anthesis.
63

64. Persimmon
o Chilling requirement: 200 hrs.
o In India the persimmon flowering time from March-April. Flowers
develop mainly on the terminal ends of shoots.
o Flower buds are laid down on the new vegetative growth arising
from the previous season’s growth, i.e. one year old branch.
o Three types of flowers are possible: female (pistillate), male
(staminate) and hermaphrodite (perfect) flowers.
o Female flowers: Flowers are single, surrounded by a large calyx
and developed in the axis of the first leaves as the shoot expands in
spring. The pistillate flowers are generally larger than staminate
flowers.
64

65. o Male flowers: Flowers are usually produced in cluster of 2-3
flowered cymes with short stock and normally has 8 stamens. It
open in the morning and soon the anthers dehisce and shed their
pollen and flowers abscise next day.
o Hermaphrodite flowers: Flowers are intermediate in size. They
may be in the center of a male cluster or borne singly in a leaf
axis. They are generally larger than male flowers, but smaller than
in female flowers. It contains well-developed anthers and a small
pistil which has an embryo sac and can set small fruits.
Male flower Female flower Hermaphrodite
65

66. o However, trees of most important cultivars of oriental persimmon
i.e., Tamopan, Tanenashi and Hachiya; bear only female flowers
and developed seedless fruit through parthenocarpy and fruits are
seedless.
o Honeybee is most important pollinator and 3 hives per hectare are
required for optimum pollination.
Srivastava and Bishwajit (2005) observed that the culitvar
'Hachiya' starts early flowering, full bloom, end of bloom with
longest flowering duration 12.33 days and highest fruit set per
cent (80.6 %), while cultivar 'Round' flowering duration and fruit
set per cent 8.5 days and 75 % respectively.
66

67. litchi
oThe flower bud differentiation in litchi starts in December and
completed by the end of January.
oLitchi bears flowers on terminal or axillary panicles. Panicle is
determinate and composed of several branches produced on current
season’s wood.
oEach panicle produce hundreds of small, white, greenish or yellowish
flowers.
oThe inflorescence varies from 10 to 35 cm in length and 5 to 30 cm in
spread. Litchi flowers measure 3 to 6 mm in width when fully open.
oThe flowers possess a cup-shaped calyx with 4-5 short, serrated
sepals from which petals are totally absent.
67

68. In litchi, 3 types of flowers are found.
1. Male or Staminate flowers (Type-I or M1)
oType-I is defined as non-functional male,
which opens for 10 days.
oThe flowers contain a pink, rudimentary form of
pistil lacking both, stigma and style. The pistil is
surrounded by 4-12 stamens with hairy
filaments.
2. Hermaphrodite male flower (Type-III or M2)
oType-III is a functional male flower but with
more hermaphrodite features than Type-II
flower.
oStamens and pistil are present but the lobes of
stigma don’t open to permit the entrance of
pollen. flowers open for 7-10 days. The peak
anthesis time is early morning (6:00 hrs).
Type-I
Type-III
68

69. oThe flowers which appear and remain
functioned only for 2 days. These flowers
have small but completely developed
pistil attached to a short peduncle. The
ovary has 2 to 4 carpels, each containing
an ovule.
oThe pistil is usually surrounded by 5-8
stamens with very short filaments. The
anthers do not normally dehiscence and
contain little viable pollen which creates
the situation of cross pollination.
Type-II
3. Hermaphrodite female flower (Type-II or F)
oDehiscence of the anthers begins about one day after anthesis and
continues for up to 3 days. The pollen of Type-III flowers are more
viable than that of Type-I flowers.
69

70. Grape
o Grapes are deciduous in nature. The reproductive phase starts
with the maturity of cane.
o Flowering in grape appears on mature shoots called cane. Flowers
appear as panicle or cyme in the axil of leaf in the opposite
direction.
o Flowers are small, green, sweetly scented and are borne on panicles
on current season growth.
o Three types of flowers viz., male, female and hermaphoridite occur
in grapes. Varieties of V. vinifera are mostly hermaphrodite.
70

71. 1. Perfect Flowers: Pistil is functional; stamens are erect and
produced fertile pollen.
2. Female flowers: Pistil is well developed; stamens are refluxed and
may produce abundant pollen, but remain sterile owing to the
absence of germpores.
3. Male flowers: Stamens are erect and anthers produced well-
developed fertile pollen but pistil is only rudimentary without
stigma and style with only a small ovary containing incompletely
developed ovules.
Male Female Perfect
71

72. o Petals and sepals are (five in number) fused and during anthesis
the petals detach from the base forming a cap like structure called
‘calyptra’.
o Anthesis starts early in the morning and continues beyond 5.00
p.m., the peak between 6.00 to 10.00 a.m. The time taken for
completion of anthesis varies from half a minute to one day,
depending upon the variety, temperature etc.
o Stigma becomes receptive one day prior to anthesis and remains
so, a day after, with maximum receptivity on the day of
anthesis.
calyptra
72

73. Fig
oFigs solitary or in pairs, occurring in the leaf axils, or on short
spurs on the lesser branches or on leafless branches on the older
wood and trunk.
oFigs composed of an urceolate receptacle with an apical
opening (ostiole), the flowers enclosed within.
oFig flowers may be long styled pistillate or short style
pistillate and staminate.
oMale flowers: perianth segments 2-6; stamens 1-3 and Female
flowers: perianth segments 2-6, stigmas 1 or 2.
oFruits achene-like or more often ± drupaceous; at the fruiting
stage the fig wall becomes ± fleshy.
73

74. Flower types and mode of pollination of different fig types.
Type Flower type Mode of pollination
Common fig Long style pistillate Fruit developed parthenocarpically.
Smyrna fig Long style pistillate Pollen laden female wasps emerging from
Capri figs enter syconia to affect
pollination.
San pedro fig Long style pistillate Pollen laden female wasps emerging from
Capri figs enter syconia to affect
pollination.
Capri fig Short styled pistillate and staminate
flowers near the ostiole
Self fertile syconia. Wasps breed in
syconia of Capri fig.
74

75. 75

76. 76

77. Pomegranate
o The attractive scarlet, red or white flowers have 5 to 8 crumpled petals
and a red fleshy tubular calyx which persists on the fruit. Flowers may
be solitary or grouped in two and three at the end of branches.
o In tropical climate, pomegranate flowers almost throughout the year
whereas in sub-tropics, it flowers once a year.
o The flowers are short peduncled or sun-sessile. Three kinds of flowers
viz., hermaphrodite, male and intermediate forms occurs on the same
tree.
77

78. 78

79. o Heterostyled is common in pomegranate flowers. Hermaphrodite
flowers are usually homostylous or pin eyed (i.e. the stigmas are on
the same level or higher than the anthers) and male flowers are thrum
eyed (i.e. the stigmas are beneath the level of the anthers).
o In hermaphrodite flowers, 6-20 % of pollen may be infertile, in
male flowers; 14-28 % is infertile (Morton, 1987).
79

80. Mangosteen
o Mangosteen are composed of both male and female flowers.
o Female flowers are solitary and occur in single or occasionally in
clusters (2-10 flowers) developed at the terminal buds of young
branches in case of mangosteen, but both terminal buds.
o Primary parts of the flowers in this genus comprised four sepals and
four petals which were different in size and colour.
o Many stamens, both filamentous and sessile anthers, are observed in
both male and female flowers in different location.
80

81. Sompong (2007) observed The number of anthers varied among
the species ranging from 20 to 40 sets in Phawa and approximately
135 sets in Somkhag. Viability of pollens ranges from 100% (Cha-
muang, Phawa and Ma-dun) to 0% (Mapood).
Female Male
81

82. BAEL
o Two type of inflorescence is present in bael i.e., leafy and leafless.
The full bloom was observed on June in all the cultivars.
o The maximum anthesis took place between 4-6 am while complete
anthesis took place between 3-9 am in all Pant bael cultivars
(Jaiswal and Mishra, 1996).
o The high relative humidity and rain were found to delay the anthesis
and dehiscence.
82

83. 83
o The peak dehiscence ranged between 6:30 to 7:30 am and stigma
becomes receptive from one day before anthesis and one day after
anthesis (Srivastava and Singh, 2003).
o The round shaped pollen grains with high pollen viability (92.02 to
98.87 %) found in all sixteen genotypes.

84. Loquat
o Loquat bears flowers at the terminal end of current year’s growth.
o The first flush of flowers can be noticed during August-September,
however, due to non-viable pollen grains there is no fruit set.
o The second flush of flowering takes place during October-November
and sets maximum fruits.
o Another flush of flowers can also be noticed during December-
January but hot and desiccating winds in early summer have
adverse influence and thereby reduce the fruit size.
o In loquat the small, white flowers are borne in woolly panicles 4 to 7
inches long. Development of the panicle is acropetal.
84

85. o The flowers are pentamerous, and each of the five carpels contains
two ovules; ordinarily only one to eight seeds develop.
In two seasons, Ateyyeh and Qrunfleh (1998) observed
flower bud formation started in early August, and peaked in
November. Each bud developed into a panicle inflorescence with an
average of 81.95 flowers. Flowering started in November and
December, and the number of open flowers peaked in December
and January in the first and second season respectively.
o Loquat is cross pollinated fruit crop due to gametophytic self-
incompatibility and Apis dorsata was the main pollinator.
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86. CARAMBOLA
o Blossom of carambola appear on small branches from axillary buds
in short panicles or cymes. Flowering and fruiting take place also
on large and thick branches and even on trunks.
o In India, flowering was observed in three flushes, i.e., (i) April-
May, (ii) July-August, (iii) September-October and fruits were
ready for harvest from these flushes during July- September,
November-December and January-February, in the same order.
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87. o The carambola flower is heterodistylous. Individual tree may have
pin-eye (long style) flowers, thrum-eye (short style) flowers, but
never both. Pin-eye type cultivars were generally self-incompatible
and required pollination from long-style types. Thrum-eye type
cultivars are self-fertile.
Pin flower Thrum flower
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88. o The calyx of flower has 5 imbricate rose-pink sepals with whitish
borders and almost half as long as the corolla tube. The corolla is
gamopetalous with five recurved lobes.
o Each petal is rose-pink with the basal portion and border whitish.
Inner to the corolla is a whorl of 10 stamens of which five are
staminodes and other are modified as nectarines.
o The dehiscence of anther is complete on the day of anthesis.
Anthesis usually occurs during the day, with flowers opening
between 8:00 and 10:00 hr.
o Insects are necessary for pollination and Apis mellifera was found
to be an effective pollinator.
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89. WOODAPPLE
o In wood apple, numerous small flowers are borne on terminal or
axillary panicles, mainly on new shoots. Emergence of panicles
commences in the middle of February and continues up to 3rd week of
May.
o Opening of flowers starts in the 2nd week of March. The flowers are
mainly staminate and hermaphrodite. Ovary, style and stigma are
present in both flowers, but rudimentary in the latter.
o Both perfect and staminate flowers have 10 to 12 stamens of equal
size. The fresh pollen grains are dark yellow.
o Wood apple is highly cross pollinated crop. Pollination is done by
insects and unpollinated flowers fail to set fruits.
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90. Perfect flower Male flower
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91. JAMUN
o Flowers are borne in terminal and axillary inflorescences on
about 5 months to one-year old branches.
o The panicle emergence usually occurs from 1st week of March
and maximum flowering from 15th March to 21st April. Each
inflorescence has 40-50 flowers, which are club shaped.
o Flowers are regular, bisexual with 5 free sepals and petals, 8
stamens and simple style.
o Require 28 to 30 days from the appearance of flower bud to
flower opening.
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92. o The flowers are hermaphrodite, light yellow in colour.
o The maximum anthesis and dehiscence were recorded between 10
am and 12 noon. The pollen fertility was higher in the beginning of
the season.
o The maximum receptivity of stigma was observed one day after
anthesis (Mishra and Bajpai, 1975).
Mishra and Bajpai (1971) reported that the extent of flower
and fruit drop in jamun was reduced by two sprays of 60 ppm GA3,
one at full bloom and the other 15 days after initial setting of fruit.
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93. Rambutan
o The rambutan inflorescence consists of a much branched panicle
developing from terminal buds of the previous season’s growth. Each
panicle has numerous male, female and hermaphrodite flowers.
o The flowers are apetalous, greenish white in colour, about 2 mm in
diameter and open at all times of the day but the majority do so at
about 6:30 hrs.
o Male flowers are characterized by prominent anthers and a
rudimentary ovary and no stigma.
o Hermaphrodite flowers are made up of two flower types.
1.Type-I; with prominent anthers and a pronounced but
underdeveloped stigma and it is functionally male.
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94. 2.Type-II flowers with small underdeveloped anthers and
bilocular ovary topped by a bifed stigma are predominately
female.
o Aromatic rambutan flowers are highly addictive to many
insects, especially bees. Flies (Diptera), bees (Hymenoptera)
and ants (Solenopsis) are the main pollinators.
Type-I Type-II Male flower
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95. 95