The dogma in the seagrass literature is that seagrasses are clonal organisms that are reliant on vegetative growth. The unstated part of that dogma is that few seagrasses have successful sexual reproduction, and are reliant on vegetative growth. In this seminar, I dispel this myth by considering how seagrasses do reproduce, using examples of Western Australian seagrass flowering processes.
The results of genetic studies using molecular tools provide firm evidence of successful reproduction in the contrasting reproductive strategies of Posidonia and Amphibolis.
Successful flowering has implications for recruitment biology and for seagrass ecology.