Anther rubbing
The ConCiencia program of Canal Sur has made a report about our discovery of anther rubbing - the movement of stamens in a plant species of the family Brassicaceae. This is a novel mechanism promoting self-fertilization in the species Erysimum incanum. This mechanism consists of autonomous, repeated, and coordinated movements of the stamens over the stigma during flower opening. Anther rubbing has been documented by time-lapse videos.
This research has been published in the scientific journal The American Naturalist:
Abdelaziz M, Bakkali M, Gómez JM, Olivieri E, Perfectti F. (2019). Anther rubbing, a new mechanism that actively promotes selfing in plants. The American Naturalist 193: 140 - 147
Click on the image to visualize the video:
This research is having a big impact on the media. In fact, it ranks in the top 5% of all research analyzed by Altmetric
