Crossword clues for pollination
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pollinate \Pol"li*nate\, v. t. (Bot.) To apply pollen to (a stigma). -- Pol`li*na"tion, n. (Bot.)
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1872, from older French pollination, noun of action formed 1812 from pollin-, stem of Latin pollen (see pollen). Replaced in Modern French by pollinisation .
Wiktionary
n. (context botany English) the transfer of pollen from an anther to a stigma; effected by insects, birds, bats and the wind etc.
WordNet
n. transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of a plant [syn: pollenation]
Wikipedia
Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred to the female reproductive organs of a plant, thereby enabling fertilization to take place. Like all living organisms, seed plants have a single major goal: to pass their genetic information on to the next generation. The reproductive unit is the seed, and pollination is an essential step in the production of seeds in all spermatophytes (seed plants).
For the process of pollination to be successful, a pollen grain produced by the anther, the male part of a flower, must be transferred to a stigma, the female part of the flower, of a plant of the same species. The process is rather different in angiosperms (flowering plants) from what it is in gymnosperms (other seed plants). In angiosperms, after the pollen grain has landed on the stigma, it creates a pollen tube which grows down the style until it reaches the ovary. Sperm cells from the pollen grain then move along the pollen tube, enter the egg cell through the micropyle and fertilise it, resulting in the production of a seed.
A successful angiosperm pollen grain (gametophyte) containing the male gametes is transported to the stigma, where it germinates and its pollen tube grows down the style to the ovary. Its two gametes travel down the tube to where the gametophyte(s) containing the female gametes are held within the carpel. One nucleus fuses with the polar bodies to produce the endosperm tissues, and the other with the ovule to produce the embryo Hence the term: " double fertilization".
In gymnosperms, the ovule is not contained in a carpel, but exposed on the surface of a dedicated support organ, such as the scale of a cone, so that the penetration of carpel tissue is unnecessary. Details of the process vary according to the division of gymnosperms in question. Two main modes of fertilization are found in gymnosperms. Cycads and Ginkgo have motile sperm that swim directly to the egg inside the ovule, whereas conifers and gnetophytes have sperm that are unable to swim but are conveyed to the egg along a pollen tube.
The study of pollination brings together many disciplines, such as botany, horticulture, entomology, and ecology. The pollination process as an interaction between flower and pollen vector was first addressed in the 18th century by Christian Konrad Sprengel. It is important in horticulture and agriculture, because fruiting is dependent on fertilization: the result of pollination. The study of pollination by insects is known as anthecology.
Usage examples of "pollination".
Such was the pollination that must have been wrought by the army of bees that crops and flowers would grow the following spring in an abundance never known before.
He is smiling expansively, entranced by the mobile plants which cluster around us, fronds upraised to savour our carbon dioxide, calyces begging our hands for pollination.
John, the doyerme of Khami Mission, had dutifully thanked the Almighty for His bounty but was going on, in conversational tones, to point out to Him that a little rain soon would help pollination of the immature cobs in the field and ensure a continuation of that bounty.
According to Stebbins, the development of pollination mechanisms in milkweeds and orchids is an example of minor advances in grade, while the appearance of the digestive tube, central nervous system, elaborate sense organs, vertebrate limbs, and elaborate social behavior represent major advances.
A warm, windless evening is chosen for pollination so the pollen tube has time to grow before sunrise.
On New Yugoslavia, there were no insects, except for one strain of Australian stingless bee that was needed for pollination.