Clonal growth in the absence of a mating morph

Many aquatic species with stylar polymorphisms have the capacity for clonal and sexual reproduction. Haddadchi et al. study differences between a monomorphic population of Nymphoides montana and polymorphic populations. They find that very few seeds are produced in the monomorphic population due to dysfunctional pollen and ovules, and that stigma–anther separation is minimal. ISSR results show that the monomorphic population is one large, single-ramet genotype, unlike the multi-genotypic fertile polymorphic populations. Evolutionary loss of sex in a clonal population in which a mating morph is absent is evident, and under these conditions clonal growth may assure reproduction and expand the population via spreading stolons.