Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
2180282 Flora - Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants 2006 11 Pages PDF
Abstract

Approximately one-fourth of the more than 900 world-wide distributed Salvia species (Lamiaceae) is ornithophilous. With few exceptions they occur in the New World, being predominantly pollinated by hummingbirds. In the Old World only Salvia africana-lutea and the recently described Salvia thermarum, both from the Cape Province of South Africa, were observed to be pollinated by sunbirds and white-eyes. Among the 23 South African Salvia species Salvia lanceolata is a further candidate for being bird pollinated. For the first time we describe and illustrate its pollination by Nectarinia chalybea and Zosterops pallidus. We compare the ornithophilous syndrome of the three mentioned Salvia species and relate them to the morphological fitting of the most common nectarivorous birds of the Southwestern Cape (Cape peninsula to Worcester). We conclude that each of the birds could act as a pollinator and that the three co-occurring Salvia species are not mechanically isolated from each other. The degree of specialisation towards bird pollination, possible hybridisation events and evolution of bird pollination in South African Salvia species are discussed.

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Life Sciences Agricultural and Biological Sciences Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
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