Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Plant Research
Nwerebuaku Mpi - Howard University
Co-Author(s): Dr. Janelle Burke
Rumex is a genus in the buckwheat family Polygonaceae that has a wide variety of species across the world. The main focus of this research is the Hawaiian Rumex species: Rumex albescens, Rumex giganteus, and Rumex skottsbergii. Hawaiian Rumex is known to be monecious plants. Monoecious plants are species in which male and female organs are found on the same plant but in different flowers. With this information, the Hawaiian Rumex specimens were obtained from the National Museum of Natural History for scoring of the sex ratio of the flowers in order to document their plant reproductive system. This was done by first verifying the identity of each specimen, and then using a microscope to analyze 3-4 branches on each plant, and recording the ratio of male and female flowers. Observing the results proved that Hawaiian Rumex specimens are in fact monecious with a female-biased ratio. In all three Hawaiian species, female flowers were more common than the male flowers. This could possibly be because female flowers have organs that produce seeds and fruits which results in the low ratio of male flowers.
Not SubmittedFunder Acknowledgement(s): Howard University
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Janelle Burke, Janelle.burke@howard.edu
Role: I did the identifying and the scoring of the plant species.