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Correlation between Seed Weight and Breeding System in Closely Related Amphimictic Taxa

Abstract

THE adaptive mechanism operative in different taxa is known to involve a flexible compensatory system of adaptations1–2. Such adaptive mechanisms involve many compromises, and in the past 15 years investigations of reproductive biology have revealed several striking correlations between characters established in nature to effect these compromises. For example, there is a strong correlation between elaborate flowers and self-incompatibility3–6, and between the perennial habit and the capacity for vegetative propagation7,8 in flowering plants. This communication reports another strong correlation, between seed weight and breeding system in the Senecio lautus complex of Australia and New Zealand.

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References

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ALI, S. Correlation between Seed Weight and Breeding System in Closely Related Amphimictic Taxa. Nature 218, 492–493 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/218492b0

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