Abstract
In this paper the authors present some data about the pollination, ecology and reproduction biology of Miconia stenostachya DC. from plants cultivated in Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. It's believed that in this species the efective reproduction system is the apomixy by agamospermy, and that the occurrence of alogamy is a remote possibility.
Their flowers possess mellitophilic characters and anthers with 90-95% of sterile pollen, receiving few visits by bees to collect pollen as food. When pollination occurs it is sternotribic and of the "vibratile” or "milking" type to extract pollen from the poricidal anthers by bee Trigona (Trigona) trínidadensis Pruv. and Melipona fasciata scutellaris Lat. In the two types of the anthers there is no separation of function in pollination and the change of colour of the floral parts is not related to pollination or fecundation, but possibly to the physiology of the plant.