INFO on Senecio jacobaea

[Stefan Andersson]

Dear Collegues,
I am interested in the pollination biology of composites, including Senecio=
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jacobaea, a plant with flower heads consisting of central disc florets and=
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marginal ray florets (rays). Rayless plants are known from Britain, on the=
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Baltic island of Gotland etc, but little is known about the occurrence of=20
rayless plants outside these areas. Given the wide range of S. jacobaea (na=
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in Eurasia, naturalized in North America, Australia, etc) and the relativel=
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weak effect of rays on pollinator attraction (unpublished results), I suspe=
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that the loss of rays has occurred in many areas. To test this hypothesis, =
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would be grateful for the following information:  =20
Have you seen rayless plants in your 'study area'? (negative results are al=
so of=20
interest!)
Did you see a single plant, a few scattered plants, or a population fixed f=
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the rayless morph?
Location (nearest village or city; state; country) and year.
Any other information?

Please respond to my email address:
stefan.andersson at sysbot.lu.se

Thanks in advance!
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Address:
Stefan Andersson
Department of Systematic Botany
University of Lund
O. Vallgatan 18-20
S-22361 Lund
Sweden