Observations and Experiments on Flowering and Pollination of the Tung Tree

Abstract

The work described in this paper was carried out in Nyasaland in 1939, 1941 and 1942, and comprised observations on the flowering habit, pollination and fruit setting of Aleurites montana, and experiments on the artificial crossing and selfing of high-yielding trees. Apart from making general notes on the flowering habit of this species, the main objects were, firstly, to study pollination both in a seedling plantation, containing a large proportion of predominantly male trees, and in a plantation of buddings in which there were very few males, and secondly, to raise a number of legitimate seedlings by the artificial crossing or selfing of high-yielding trees. In the latter experiments it was particularly necessary to find out if the high-yielding, predominantly female trees were self fertile.