Pollination

Flowers, also known as blossoms and blooms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants. Typically, they are structured in four circular levels around the end of a stalk. These include: sepals, which are modified leaves that support the flower; petals, often designed to attract pollinators; male stamens, where pollen is presented; and female gynoecia, where pollen is received and its movement is facilitated to the egg. When flowers are arranged in a group, they are known collectively as an inflorescence.

clade of seed plants that produce flowers

thumb|Fruit platter – seasonal fruits In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering.

genus of insects

thumb|Beekeeper at the College of DuPage, Illinois Beekeeping (or apiculture, from ) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Honey bees in the genus Apis are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as Melipona stingless bees are also kept. Beekeepers (or apiarists) keep bees to collect honey and other products of the hive: beeswax, propolis, bee pollen, and royal jelly. Other sources of beekeeping income include pollination of crops, raising queens, and production of package bees for sale. Bee hives are kept in an apiary or "bee yard".

thumb|Colorized scanning electron microscope image of pollen grains from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory ([[Ipomoea purpurea), prairie hollyhock (Sidalcea malviflora), oriental lily (Lilium auratum), evening primrose (Oenothera fruticosa), and castor bean (Ricinus communis).]] thumb|Pollen tube diagram

thumb|Nectar of camellia thumb|Orange-yellow nectaries and greenish nectar in buckwheat flowers thumb|An Australian painted lady feeding on a flower's nectar thumb|Gymnadenia conopsea flowers with nectar-filled spur Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists, which in turn provide herbivore protection. Common nectar-consuming pollinators include mosquitoes, hoverflies, wasps, bees, butterflies and moth

thumb|upright=1.25|Diagram illustrating the process of pollination thumb|upright=1.25|Female carpenter bee with pollen collected from a [[night-blooming cereus]]Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; birds, and bats; water; wind; and even plants themselves. Pollinating animals travel from plant to plant carrying pollen on their bodies in a vital interaction that allows the transfer of genetic ma

thumb|upright=1.4|In a mature flower, the perianth consists of a calyx ([[sepals) and the corolla (petals) it supports.]]

thumb|right|250px|Stamens of a Hippeastrum with white filaments and prominent anthers carrying [[pollen]]

thumb|Location of ovules inside a Helleborus foetidus flower

fermented pollen

a racemose inflorescence having many small sessile flowers borne on a fleshy stem, the whole usually being surrounded by a spathe: typical of aroid plants

thumb|220px|An apiary in Warsaw, [[Poland.]] An apiary (also known as a bee yard) is a location where beehives of honey bees are kept. Apiaries come in many sizes and can be rural or urban depending on the honey production operation.

Anemophily or wind pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen is distributed by wind. Almost all gymnosperms are anemophilous, as are many plants in the order Poales, including grasses, sedges, and rushes. Other common anemophilous plants are oaks, pecans, pistachios, sweet chestnuts, alders, hops, and members of the family Juglandaceae (hickory or walnut family). Approximately 12% of plants across the globe are pollinated by anemophily, including cereal crops like rice and corn and other prominent crop plants like wheat, rye, barley, and oats. In addition, many pines, spruces, and fi

thumb|Bee pollinating a flower thumb|Soldier beetle covered with pollen

thumb|right|One type of automatic self-pollination occurs in the orchid Ophrys apifera. One of the two pollinia bends itself towards the stigma. Self-pollination is a form of pollination in which pollen arrives at the stigma of a flower (in flowering plants) or at the ovule (in gymnosperms) of the same plant. The term cross-pollination is used for the opposite case, where pollen from one plant moves to a different plant.

evolutionary mechanism for speciation

thumb|250px|A syrphid fly (Eristalinus taeniops) pollinating a [[common hawkweed]] thumb|250px|A Andrena|mining bee (Andrena lonicerae) pollinating a [[honeysuckle (Lonicera gracilipes).]]

sex change as part of the normal life cycle of a species

tubular cell projection that is part of a pollen tube cell and extends from a pollen grain

300px|thumb|Chasmogamous (a) and cleistogamous (b) flowers of Viola pubescens. Arrows point to structure.

Self-incompatibility (SI) is a general name for any genetic mechanism that prevents self-fertilization in fertile hermaphroditic organisms, and thus encourages outcrossing and allogamy. It is contrasted with separation of sexes among individuals (dioecy), and their various modes of spatial (herkogamy) and temporal (dichogamy) separation.

In biology, gonochorism is a sexual system where there are two sexes and each individual organism is either male or female. The term gonochorism is usually applied in animal species, the vast majority of which are gonochoric.

The chalaza (; ; : chalazas or chalazae ) is a structure inside bird eggs and plant ovules. It attaches or suspends the yolk or nucellus within the larger structure.

species of amphibian

thumb|right|270px|Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of [[pollen grains]]

Heterostyly is a unique form of polymorphism and herkogamy in flowers. In a heterostylous species, two or three morphological types of flowers, termed "morphs", exist in the population. On each individual plant, all flowers share the same morph. The flower morphs differ in the lengths of the pistil and stamens, and these traits are not continuous. The morph phenotype is genetically linked to genes responsible for a unique system of self-incompatibility, termed heteromorphic self-incompatibility, that is, the pollen from a flower on one morph cannot fertilize another flower of the same morph.

flower markings

thumb|Hummingbird Phaethornis longirostris on an [[Etlingera inflorescence]] Ornithophily or bird pollination is the pollination of flowering plants by birds. This sometimes (but not always) coevolutionary association is derived from insect pollination (entomophily) and is particularly well developed in some parts of the world, especially in the tropics, Southern Africa, and on some island chains. The association involves several distinctive plant adaptations forming a "pollination syndrome". The plants typically have colourful, often red, flowers with long tubular structures holding ample nec

398x398px|thumb| Vallisneria spiralis is an example of hydrophily. Female flowers reach the water's surface temporarily to ensure pollination. Hydrophily is a fairly uncommon form of pollination whereby pollen is distributed by the flow of waters, particularly in rivers and streams. Hydrophilous species fall into two categories: (i) Those that distribute their pollen to the surface of water. e.g. Vallisneria's male flower or pollen grain are released on the surface of water, which are passively carried away by water currents; some of them eventually reach the female flower (ii) Those that dis

modified hairs on Apoidea body

A pollinium (: pollinia) is a coherent mass of pollen grains in a plant that are the product of only one anther, but are transferred, during pollination, as a single unit. This is regularly seen in orchids, which have a complex pollination system, and many species of milkweeds (Asclepiadoideae). Usage of the term differs: in some orchids two masses of pollen are well attached to one another, but in other orchids there are two halves (with two separate viscidia) each of which is sometimes referred to as a pollinium.

reproductive structure that can be found in several plant families

thumb|250px|A rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) is attracted to brightly colored flowers and assists the [[pollination of the plant.]]

Chemotropism is defined as the growth of organisms navigated by chemical stimulus from outside of the organism. It has been observed in bacteria, plants and fungi. A chemical gradient can influence the growth of the organism in a positive or negative way. Positive growth is characterized by growing towards a stimulus and negative growth is growing away from the stimulus.

Pseudocopulation is a behavior similar to copulation that serves a reproductive function for one or both participants but does not involve actual sexual union between the individuals. It is most generally applied to a pollinator attempting to copulate with a flower adapted to mimic a potential female mate. The resemblance may be visual, but the key stimuli are often chemical and tactile. The form of mimicry in plants that deceives an insect into pseudocopulation is called Pouyannian mimicry after the French lawyer and amateur botanist Maurice-Alexandre Pouyanne.

form of pollination

thumb|right|Strawberry anther with parallel thecae In biology, a theca (: thecae) is a sheath or a covering.

flower traits that attract pollinators

thumb | right | alt=Photo of white flower with numerous and very long stamens, central carpel with high stigma| Capparis spinosa, photographed in San Ġwann, Malta. Herkogamy (or hercogamy) is the spatial separation of the anthers and stigma in hermaphroditic angiosperms. It is a common strategy for reducing self-fertilization.

evolutionary mechanism

practice of saving plant reproductive material

300px|thumb|Chasmogamous (a) and cleistogamous (b) flowers of Viola pubescens. Arrows point to structure.

thumb|right|Hand-pollination of two gourd blossoms Hand-pollination, also known as mechanical pollination, is a technique that can be used to pollinate plants when natural or open pollination is either undesirable or insufficient.

foraging behavior

thumb|The dogwood andrena, [[Andrena Subgenus Gonandrena, oligolectic on dogwoods]]

Melissopalynology is the study of pollen contained in honeyHarmonized methods of melissopalynology, Werner VON DER OHE, Livia PERSANO ODDO, Maria Lucia PIANA, Monique MORLOT, Peter MARTIN, 2004 and, in particular, the pollen's source. By studying the pollen in a sample of honey, it is possible to gain evidence of the geographical location and genus of the plants that the honey bees visited, although honey may also contain airborne pollens from anemophilous plants, spores, and dust due to attraction by the electrostatic charge of bees.

flowers which emit an odor that smells like rotting flesh

tendency to visit certain flower species

thumb|upright=1.5|Several RoboBees sit on the ground, while another is held in tweezers with the wings activated. RoboBee is a tiny robot capable of partially untethered flight, developed by a research robotics team at Harvard University. The culmination of twelve years of research, RoboBee solved two key technical challenges of micro-robotics. Engineers invented a process inspired by pop-up books that allowed them to build on a sub-millimeter scale precisely and efficiently. To achieve flight, they created artificial muscles capable of beating the wings 120 times per second.

variety of concepts in the context of the sexual reproduction of plants

study of flower structures

reduction in abundance of insect and other animal pollinators

biological term with multiple meanings

Geitonogamy (from Greek geiton (γείτων) = neighbor + gamein (γαμεῖν) = to marry) is a type of self-pollination. Geitonogamous pollination is sometimes distinguished from the fertilizations that can result from it, geitonogamy. If a plant is self-incompatible, geitonogamy can reduce seed production.

scent created by aroma compounds emitted by floral tissue