Reproductive biology and colour polymorphism in the food-deceptive Iris lutescens (Iridaceae)

Among the diversity of pollination strategies, food deception is intriguing because of the lack of rewards offered for the pollination services. Floral food deception has been frequently recorded in orchids; however, there is little evidence for food deception outside the Orchidaceae. One putative non-orchid candidate is the Mediterranean Iris lutescens, which displays an heritable polymorphism for flower colour, with yellow and purple morphs. Colour polymorphism is frequently thought to be maintained by negative frequency-dependent selection, where rare morphs are visited more frequently than common ones. Here, we present data on reproductive biology and pollination ecology of the species in the light of the deceptive pollination strategy and the maintenance of flower colour polymorphism. There was no difference in sex allocation and flowering phenology between morphs, with a blooming period early in spring. Both colour morphs are equally self-incompatible and they depend on insects for seed production. The most common visitors with pollen loads are small and large Apoids. These were observed foraging for non-existent nectar (rather than pollen) on Iris flowers. Most of them appear to learn to avoid Iris flowers as classically observed for rewardless species, and there was no evidence of an advantage for the rare morph. Instead, we found that in some populations, large bee pollinators appeared to prefer the most common morph (positive frequency-dependent selection). Iris lutescens appears to be a hitherto neglected but relevant candidate to investigate deceptive reproductive strategy and selective pressures in generalist plants.