Review on Floral Biology and Insect Floral Visitors of Bottle Gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standley]

Pollination is vital for the survival of cross-pollinated plants, achieved through wind, water, and animal vectors. In animals, insects are the major vectors of pollination, including cucurbitaceous crops, where the bottle gourd is monoecious with the diurnal, crepuscular, and nocturnal habit of anthesis. In bottle gourd, staminate and pistillate flowers appear 55 to 83 days after planting on different nodes of the same plant with a ratio of 19:1 to 23:1. A meta-analysis of studies on insect floral visitors of bottle gourd revealed that 86 insect species consisting of 23 Hymenopterans, 22 Lepidopterans, 21 Dipterans, 11 Coleopterans, 4 Hemipterans, 2 Orthopterans, and 1 each of Odonatan, Thysanopteran, and Mantodean insects visited bottle gourd flowers.