Reproductive biology and genetic marker diversity in Grevillea infecunda (Proteaceae), a rare plant with no known seed production

Abstract

Grevillea infecunda D.J.McGillivray is a narrow endemic that reproduces vegetatively via root suckering. The reproductive biology of five Grevillea infecunda populations was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy. Stigma maturation follows normal Grevillea development. However, a large number of pollen grains with aberrant forms were documented. A fluorochromatic reaction (FCR) test revealed 0.04% pollen viability. All pollen samples collected from two populations were completely sterile. All viable grains were >100 μm in diameter and included aberrant forms. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique was used to investigate genotypic diversity in G. i..