Crimson+Bottlebrush

Crimson Bottlebrush - //Callistemon citrinus//
Group Members: Emily, Kate, Steph and Em

Plant species: __//Callistemon //__ __//citrinus //__

Plant family: Myrtaceae

Common name: Crimson Bottlebrush Distribution: Spread along the east coast of Australia, southern Western Australia and New Caledonia They grow in wet areas, often along creek beds Source: Australian National Botanic Gardens, 1995.



Figure 1- A section of Bottlebrush

Floral Morphology
. Figure 2- Morphology of Bottlebrush flower  Figure 3- Reproductive features of Bottlebrush flower

Variability of Flower Morphology
Table 1: Flower variability data including standard deviation which illustrates error and range in data.


 * Flower number: || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || **Average** || **St. Dev** ||
 * Style length (mm) || 22.3 || 23.1 || 24 || 22.3 || 23.4 || 23.02 || 0.732803 ||
 * Av.Stamen length (mm) || 21.95 || 20 || 19.1 || 20.3 || 21 || 20.47 || 1.072147 ||
 * Number of stamen || 34 || 33 || 35 || 32 || 26 || 32 || 3.535534 ||
 * Number of petals || 5 || 5 || 5 || 5 || 5 || 5 || 0 ||

Pollination:
 * Mechanisms to prevent self-pollination (see average style and stamen length
 * Colour- red to attract insects/birds/small mammals
 * Flower is scented to attract insects
 * Pollen is light- anthers called also be carried by wind as it is easily detached from the flower
 * Nectar is easily accessible as reward, although is only reached by moving through the anthers that are densely packed, resulting in pollination

Nectar Information
It is important to note that the nectar quantity was low: from 17 flowers, 19.5mm of nectar was collected at a concentration of 39.9% sugar. This is a concentrated amount. The concentration of nectar could have been increased due to evaporation of water as the plant was picked 24 hours before being examined and was left in the sun. This could also influence the quantity of nectar present.

Pollen information
Figure 4: The pollen as identified under a compound light microscope. The pollen granules are the rounded triangle shapes.