Pollination

Pollination [ Botany ]
Derived form: Pollinator (Noun)

Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names


	Pollination is the process in which the pollen is transferred from the male part of a flower (stamen) to the female part of a flower (the style and stigma) in seed plants.

Pollination is an important step in the reproduction of seed plants. In the angiosperms the pollination is the transfer of pollen grains (male gametes) from their point of origin in the anther to the to the receptive surface of the carpel called a stigma. (and from the microsporangium to the pollen chamber of conifers and cycads) Pollen may be transferred to the same or a different flower to ensure the fertilization of the ovules (female gametes) to produce seeds;
The successful cross-pollination process is realized by means of various biotic or abiotic pollinator agents that bring or move the pollen grains from the anther to the receptive part of the flower's carpel.

The main methods of pollination are:

Entomophily: pollination by insects,
Zoophily: pollination by animals.
Anemophily: pollination by wind.
Hydrophily: pollination by water.

Floral peculiar characteristics associated with pollination by means of various pollinators are called pollination syndromes.

See also: Autogamy, self-pollination, controlled pollination

To pollinate [ Botany ]
Transitive verb (past and past participle Pollinated, present participle pollinating, 3rd person present singular pollinates)


	To transfer pollen from the anther to the stigma and fertilize a plant.

This involves moving pollen grains from the male structure (anther) to the female structure ( stigma) of a flower within a plant or from plant to plant, in order for it to reproduce.

See also cross-pollination and self-pollination for additional information.

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Holdfast roots [ Botany ]
Dictionary of botanic terminology - index of names

Some species of climbing plants develop holdfast roots which help to support the vines on trees, walls, and rocks. By forcing their way into minute pores and crevices, they hold the plant firmly in place.

Climbing plants, like the poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata), and trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans), develop holdfast roots which help to support the vines on trees, walls, and rocks. By forcing their way into minute pores and crevices, they hold the plant firmly in place. Usually the Holdfast roots die at the end of the first season, but in some species they are perennial. In the tropics some of the large climbing plants have hold-fast roots by which they attach themselves, and long, cord-like roots that extend downward through the air and may lengthen and branch for several years until they strike the soil and become absorbent roots.

Major references and further lectures:
1) E. N. Transeau “General Botany” Discovery Publishing House, 1994