Large flowers can be short-lived: Insights from a high Andean cactus

Long-lived and large flowers signify high floral maintenance costs. Species of arid/semiarid climates with large flowers are expected to have short flower lifespans and pollination-induced flower longevity in order to curb high floral water and other maintenance costs. We explored the context-dependent large flower/short flower longevity hypothesis in Eriosyce curvispina (Cactaceae), a large-flowered species of the semi-arid central Chilean Andes. We determined breeding system, flower visitation rates, and open-pollination fruit set and quantified floral water content. In a temperature-controlled field manipulative experiment, we measured potential flower longevity and tested for the presence of pollination-induced floral senescence. We measured the timespan of the complete flower cycle defined as from when the flowers began to open to when they were totally closed, and the timespan of fully open flowers defined as from when they were totally open until they began to close. The potentia...