Saturday, April 3, 2010

pollination


Yes, I am aware that these are not bugs. The first one is the stamen and the second a pistil of an Azalea flower. You can see the pollen coming out of a hole in the anther (dark end part) of the stamen and a few tiny pieces sticking to the stigma (the sticky end) on the pistil. These anthers are "poricidal", meaning that they have little holes. This type of anther is associated with buzz pollination by insects, which basically means that they vibrate the flower to get the pollen off of it. Pollen is what some insects, usually bees, but also moths, beetles and others depending, carry from one flower to another so that they plants can produce seeds. Some plants only have one pollinator and others have many, and not all plants use insects for pollination. Some let the wind carry their pollen to other flowers and others use other animals, such as hummingbirds or even bats.

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