Bougainvillaea genus
Introduction
Bougainvillaea genus consists of about eighteen species of shrubs, vines or small trees in Nyctaginae family originating from South America. The plant is widespread in parks, home and institutional due to its ornamental value and can thrive in different climatic conditions. On observation, an individual can identify the colourful parts of the bougainvillaea plant; however, the true flower and small and inconspicuous. The flower consists of the male structure (stamen) and the female sexual structure (pistil). The flowers are shaped like a trumpet, white or yellow, waxy and less than 1 inch in length. The flowering of the plant is dependent on several factors. The plants have been shown to thrive well when grown in regions with adequate solar. They have the potential to tolerate low temperatures, how if this persists for a while the flowering process is slow down. The plant has both the male and female flowers; however, they cannot self-fertilize. They require cross-pollination by plants or the animals in this case they have attractive and odourless feature. Typically, the pollen grains are collected from the ripe anther and dropped on the mature stigma.
Method
The Bougainville plant I choose for this study is very proximal to my residential place; therefore, it was often to frequently visit the plant to access the insects that could be the pollinators of the plant. At a closer look to the plant, the flower appeared tubular; the lower part is dilated while the upper part is funnel-shaped, it’s the stigma is shorter than the anthers. The most frequent animals to this plant were the insects and birds. Mostly, I identified butterflies, moths and rarely bees (ten days observation) and the hummingbirds were the only bird I found frequenting to the plant.
Discussion
Stigma and anthers of the Bougainvillea position (stigma located below the anthers), their simultaneous maturity and winding of the floral tube imply a self-pollination mechanism. However, the coloured bracts of the plants serve as an adaptation for attracting insects, and birds suggest cross-pollination. The floral parts of the Bougainvillea are more of self-pollination than cross-pollination because as the insects or birds try to suck nectar at the bottom of the flower are likely to transfer the pollen grains to the same flower’s stigma. Bract colour of the plant results from betacyanins and betaxanthins. The cultivated Bougainvillea, unlike the wild ones, have the coloured bracts. Therefore this feature becomes the second to the presence on nectar; hence, the main attracting feature of this plant’s flower is the nectar. The species of Bougainvillea plant that has cross-pollination mechanism is characterized by self-incompatibility. For the plants with this characteristic, the main difference is the timing of pollen maturity and stigma receptivity, or the lack of pollen to germinate is a hindrance to fertilization. Other characteristics of Bougainvillea with cross-pollination includes trinucleate pollen, concurrent cytokinesis, homomorphic flowers or the inability of pollen germination. Currently, the self-sterility technique has been developed to facilitate cross-pollination, which results in heterozygous offspring. The Bougainvillea plant has evolved over time through both natural and induced mutations and hybridization. Natural mutations occurred via bud sports where it started as spontaneous bud variation. These variations caused the change of the bract colour, flower tube growth imperfectly and different coloured zone in the leaf.