Pollination of Sarcandra glabra (Chloranthaceae) in natural populations in Japan

The pollination biology of Sarcandra glabra was investigated in its natural habitat in Japan. Flowers were protogynous and stigma receptivity dropped off significantly following anther dehiscence. Female-stage and bisexual-stage flowers were visited by beetles, bees, hemiptera, flies, and rarely ants that foraged for pollen and/or small droplets of liquid that occasionally were secreted by the carpels and inflorescence axes. At least the beetles, bees, and hemiptera commonly touched the stigmas and likely effected pollination. Flowers were self-compatible, and automatic selfing sometimes occurred when pollen fell from apical flowers onto the stigmas of lower flowers.