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Labile sex expression in plants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 1998

HELENA KORPELAINEN
HELENA KORPELAINEN
Affiliation:
Department of Biosciences, Division of Genetics, P.O. Box 56, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
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Abstract

The range of environmental sex determination and sex changes throughout plant taxa from bryophytes and pteridophytes to spermatophytes is reviewed. Lability in sex expression occurs in many plant taxa but only in homosporous pteridophytes is labile sex the rule. Among angiosperms, labile sex appears to be more common among dioecious and monoecious plants than among hermaphrodites. However, hermaphrodites can control allocation to male and female functions by varying the relative emphasis on pollen and ovules. A majority of plants with labile sex expression are perennials, which indicates that flexibility in sex is more important for species with long life cycles. Environmental stress, caused by less-than-optimal light, nutrition, weather or water conditions, often favours maleness. The extreme lability in the sex expression of homosporous pteridophytes is suggested to be related primarily to the mating systems.

Keywords

labile sexadaptationBryophytaPteridophytaSpermatophyta
Type
Review Article
Information
Biological Reviews , Volume 73 , Issue 2 , May 1998 , pp. 157 - 180
Copyright
Cambridge Philosophical Society 1998

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