Syngonanthus mucugensis subsp. mucugensis Giul. and S. curralensis are straw-flowers (sempre-vivas) in which the capitula maintain their appearance and color for many years. These herbaceous plants have a clumped distribution, their leaves form a rosette, and they have small whitish monoecious inflorescences united in a capitulum. The present study examined the phenology of this species, relating it to abiotic environmental factors and probable dispersal modes. The presence/absence of phenophases were observed on a monthly basis from August/2002 to September/2004 in an area of campo rupestre vegetation, in the municipalities of Mucugê and Morro do Chapéu. The vegetative phase is the longest phase of the phenological cycle (approximately five months) and occurs during the rainy season (November through March). Three to four months pass between the emergence of the scapes and the production of the young capitula. The staminate and pistillate flowers undergo anthesis in the early morning; the individual staminate flowers last one day, and the entire staminate cycle lasts seven days. Pistillate flowers last three days, while the pistillate cycle lasts from three to four days. There is no temporal overlap of the staminate and pistillate phases in the same capitulum. The two species demonstrate annual and regular flowering (June-August) and fruiting (July-November), during the dry season. Seed dispersal occurs approximately 45 days after fertilization and extends for four months, during the dry season and the beginning of the rainy season. The type of diaspore produced, the grouped distribution of the species, and the occurrence of seed maturation during the dry season all suggest anemochoric and autochoric dispersal mechanisms.
Eriocaulaceae; phenology; straw-flower; Syngonanthus
