Pollination
Article by: Leslie Real, Department of Zoology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Bastiaan J. D. Meeuse, Department of Botany, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
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The transport of pollen grains from the plant parts that
produce them to the ovule-bearing organs, or to the ovules
(seed precursors) themselves. Pollination is a process that
ensures the successful life cycle of plants. Without pollination,
there would be no plant fertilization; thus, it is of crucial impor-
tance for the production of fruit crops and seed crops. In the
pollination process, pollen (the small male reproductive bodies
produced in the pollen sacs of seed plants; Fig. 1) is transferred
to the female reproductive organs of a plant, thus facilitating
fertilization. In gymnosperms (plants with naked seeds), includ-
ing conifers and cycads, the pollen, usually dispersed by the
wind, is simply caught by a drop of fluid excreted by each freely
exposed ovule. In angiosperms (flowering plants), where the
ovules are contained in the pistil, the pollen is deposited on the
pistil's receptive end (the stigma), where it germinates. Pollina-
tion also plays an important part in plant-breeding experiments
that are aimed at increasing crop production through the cre-
ation of genetically superior types.
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Content
• Self- and cross-pollination
• Flower attractants
• Animal pollinators
• Bird pollination
• Bat pollination
• Hawkmoth pollination
• Butterfly pollination
• Fly and beetle pollination
• Bee pollination
• Wind pollination
• Water pollination
• Ecology
Fig. 1: Photomicrograph of pollen grains. (Credit: Steven P. Lynch)
Key Concepts
• Pollination is any process that transports pollen grains from the plant parts
that produce them to the ovule-bearing organs, or to the ovules themselves.
• Without pollination, there would be no plant fertilization.
• Pollination plays an important part in plant-breeding experiments aimed
at increasing crop production through the creation of genetically superior types.
• In most plants, self-pollination is difficult or impossible.
• Plants normally need external agents for pollen transport, including insects,
wind, birds, mammals, and water.
