Flower Scent and Pollination in Selected Neotropical Palms

Abstract

The flower scents of 14 palm species were collected in the field in Ecuador and Puerto Rico by head-space adsorption and analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Insect visitors were recorded in seven of the species in Ecuador. The floral scent of the different species was dominated by a variety of compounds, e.g., the fatty-acid derived 3-pentanone and the hydrocarbon series dodecane to pentadecane, the benzenoid compound 1,4-dimethoxybenzene, the isoprenoids (E)-ocimene, myrcene, linalool, and (E)-α-farnesene and the nitrogen-containing compound 2-methoxy-sec-butylpyrazine. Rather than mirroring the systematics of the studied palm species, the chemical composition of the floral scent reflected the pollination mode. The scent of beetle-pollinated species was characterized by large amounts of one or a few dominant compounds, whereas fly- and bee-pollinated species contained a mixture of several compounds in smaller total amounts. We suggest that specific scent compounds, as found in the beetle-pollinated species, have evolved as a response to pollinator preferences. The importance of olfactory cues in relation to visual cues is higher in beetle-pollinated species than in species pollinated by flies and bees.

Key words

Floral scent - head-space - GC-MS - palmae - Arecaceae - pollination

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Section Editor: G. Gottsberger