Clivia+miniata+WKAVCN

=**//Clivia miniata//**= __Group members__: Craig, Andrew, Vi, Katherine, Wendy, Nik, Yi Yang (Sam); (Lab: Tuesday AM, BIOL1902) __ Plant species __ : // Clivia miniata // __ Plant family __ : //Amaryllidaceae// __ Common name __ : Natal lily, bush lily __Distribution__: Originally from South Africa, from Morgan's Bay in the Eastern Cape Province, up into northern KwaZulu-Natal and Swaziland. Today, they grow in most areas of Australia, especially damp woodland and are a common cultivated houseplant. They require frost protection in cold areas. In forests, they grow under tree cover in the leaf mould where soil is rich with humus and is well-drained. They grow optimally in dappled shade as they are sensitive to sunlight and will burn easily. ( Source: Moore, P. 2005. A Guide to Plants of inland Australia.Reed New Holland Publishers, Sydney)

Source: Burkesbackyard.com.au ||
 * [[image:http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/img/Factsheets/Clivia/Clivia03.jpg align="center"]] ||
 * Figure 1. Distribution of //Clivia miniata// in Australia.

__Habit__: Erect shrub grows to 80cm in height. They commonly contain large, pale to medium orange flowers with yellow throats, in large clusters of upturned, funnel-shaped blooms. It is a monocot with approximately six tepals (sepals in the outer whorls and petals in the inner whorls) and six anthers. This is characteristic of monocots, where floral features are present in threes, which is confirmed by the parallel venation. Once pollinated, a fruit develops which is known as a berry and contains 1-15 seeds. The fruit is bright orange when ripe.


 * [[image:flowerpowerlab/Figure 2]] ||
 * Figure 2. //Clivia miniata// is a monocot. ||

Floral Morphology

 * [[image:Figure 3]] ||
 * Figure 3. Parts of hermaphrodite flower //Clivia miniata// ||

Table 1. Measurements of floral and pollen morphology of //Clivia// //miniata// (n=4), including the mean and standard deviation (S.D.).
 * ||  ||   ||   ||   || **Mean** || **S.D.** ||
 * Number of tepals || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 0 ||
 * Number of anthers || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 0 ||
 * Stigma-anther distance (mm) || 12 || 11.6 || 11.5 || 11.6 || 11.7 || 0.222 ||
 * Inside flower distance*(mm) || 23 || 24.9 || 25 || 23.9 || 24.2 || 0.942 ||
 * Anther width (mm) || 9.9 || 10 || 9.8 || 9.8 || 9.9 || 0.096 ||
 * Anther length (mm) || 5.2 || 5.7 || 5.3 || 5.2 || 5.4 || 0.238 ||
 * Stamen length* (mm) || 29.8 || 28.3 || 28.5 || 29 || 28.9 || 0.668 ||
 * Tepal length* (mm) || 66 || 64 || 63 || 63 || 64 || 1.414 ||
 * Pollen length (µm) || 147 || 150 || 148 || 149 || 148.5 || 1.291 ||
 * Nectar volume || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||
 * Number of pollen grains per anther* || 2500 || 3000 || 2900 || 2800 || 2800 || 216.0 ||  ||
 * Notes- Vernier callipers were used to measure floral morphology to the nearest 0.1mm. Inside flower distance measurements were taken at the height of the tip of the anthers. Stamen length was taken from the bottom of the flower to the tip of the anther. The tepal length was taken from the bottom tip of the flower to the top. For pollen calculations see pollen information below.

Nectar information
The flowers had no noticeable smell. On inspection, no nectar was found to be present in the flowers examined. Nectar content was estimated by using 20 μL glass capillary tubes. However, this does not imply that nectar is not produced. Nectar may have been present in small amounts and burried deep within the flower, where it is usually accessed by insects which have a long, pointy mouth.The absence of nectar may also be attributed to the time of day when the plant was cut for investigation. The flowers may have already been depleted of nectar which may not be replenished till nightfall or early morning. An alternative hypothesis is that the particular variety of //Clivia// //miniata// examined in this investigation was cultivated as a houseplant. As a result of human propagation, the nectar rewards may have been lost as they no longer required the assistance of vector pollinators transferring pollen from one plant to another.

Pollen information
Pollen grains are oval shaped and yellow. They are light and fluffy, suggesting the possibiltiy of wind pollination. However this is a typical insect pollinated plant because the petals are brightly coloured and the anthers and carpel are enclosed within the flower. Common pollination vectors include bees, flies and t he swallowtail butterfly which has a particular preference for orange-red flowers. There were on average 2800 pollen grains in one anther, although this is likely to be an understimate due to an incomplete extraction of pollen from the anther. The amount of pollen was estimated by dissecting a single anther in hot melted Fuschia gel on a microscope slide and then using quadrants and a compound light microscope to estimate the number of pollen grains on the slide.


 * [[image:Figure 4.jpg width="800" height="600"]] ||
 * Figure 4. Pollen grains of //Clivia miniata// observed under a compound light microscope at 40x magnification. The pollen grains were stained in Fuschia gel. ||


 * [[image:flowerpowerlab/Bee_in_Clivia2.jpg]] ||
 * Figure 5. Bee visiting //Clivia miniata//. Source: shieldsgarden.com ||