Variable Nectar Secretion in a Heliconia Species Pollinated by Hermit Hummingbirds

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Abstract
The average flower of H. psittacorum, an herb pollinated by hermit hummingbirds on Trinidad, secreted 66.4 .mu.l of nectar. Variation among flowers was extremely high; of 215 flowers examined over a 15 day period, 29 secreted less than 10 .mu.l of nectar, where 24 secreted more than 120 .mu.l. The frequency distribution of nectar volumes was platykurtic. There was no spatial or temporal pattern to the appearance of blanks within the clone examined, although bonanzas occurred only on ramets growing in wet soil. This bonanza-blank pattern contrasts strongly with the uniformly large nectar volumes reported for other Heliconia species or other plants pollinated by hermit hummingbirds.

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