Pollinator Behavior Drives Sexual Specializations in the Hermaphrodite Flowers of a Heterodichogamous Tree.

Dioecy, the specialization of individuals into either male-only or female-only sexual function, has multiple evolutionary origins in plants. One proposed ancestral mating system is heterodichogamy, two morphs of cross-fertilizing hermaphrodite flowers that differ in their timing of flowering. Previous research suggested that small specializations in these morphs' functional genders could facilitate their evolution into separate sexes.