Comparison of the morphology and function of the same stamens between male and perfect flowers of Capparis spinosa L.

Capparis spinosa L.( Capparidaceae) is a woody perennial; there are male flowers and perfect flowers in the same plant. Each flower has longer and short stamens. In order to ascertain if the function of the same stamens are different between two kind of flowers,the morphology,number and color of the same stamen between male and perfect flowers were compared. The results showed that the length,the color,the number of pollens of single anther,the fertile pollen rate and the insect visiting of the same stamen had no significant differences between male flowers and perfect flowers. The artificial pollination experiment indicated that when the perfect flowers with no stamens were pollinated with the pollen of the longer stamens in two kinds of flowers,the fruit rate and the quality of fruits had no differences between two kind of flowers,but the number of seeds from the pollen of longer stamens of perfect flowers were lower than the number of seeds from the pollen of longer stamens of male flowers. The fruit rate from the pollen of shorter stamens of perfect flowers were higher than the fruit rate from the pollen of shorter stamens of male flowers,but the quality of the fruits and the seeds,the number of seeds in single fruit had no significant differences between two kind of flowers. This study provides the rationale and the basis for comparing the morphology and the function between longer stamen and shorter stamen in the same flower.