Ber is an ancient fruit of India and China. Ber fruits are very nutritious and rich in vitamins C, A and B- complex. The duration of flowering in ber is prolonged and the time of blossoming largely depends on climatic conditions. Flowering, can, however be regulated to some extent by timing the pruning operation. The flower buds in ber are borne on both mature as well as current season's growth and the inflorescence is an axillary cyme. Most of the ber varieties are self unfruitful and fruit poorly without cross pollination. Fruits drop immature if they are set without fertilization or due to embryo abortion at later stage of fruit development. Its floral biology has been studied by many researchers, however, the self and cross-incompatibility and long juvenile period are the hindrances for the systematic hybridization programme in this crop. Therefore, an attempt has been made in this review to critically analyse the important aspects of ber flowering; flowering time, flowering duration, flowering habit, anthesis, dehiscence, stigma receptivity, pollen morphology, pollen viability, pollen germination, fruit set and fruit drop. The ber flowering literature provides a wealth of usable information for breeders.
