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| A honey bee visiting a female-phase ‘Hass’
avocado flower. |
Our research
into the flowering cycle of avocado trees has found that the timing of flower
opening is associated with temperature; colder temperatures are linked with a
delay in flower opening which results in flowers remaining open at night.
Each avocado
flower opens once in a female-phase and then closes before opening again in a
male-phase. Pollination (and therefore fertilisation) occurs when pollen is
deposited on the receptive stigmas while flowers are in the female-phase. 