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Botany Greenhouse
The Agents of Evolution - Pollination Syndromes - WindWind pollination (Anemophily)
Bat, Bee, Beetle, Bird, Butterfly, Fly, Moth, Snail&Slug, Water and Wind Flowers are usually small, odorless, unisexual, dull or colorless, and do not have nectar or any other nutritious rewards to their visitors. Their stamens are well exposed (in some the anthers are suspended from long filaments hanging free from the flower) and produce numerous, light, dry, small and usually round and smoth pollen grains (most respiratory allergies come from wind-pollinated plants). Their stigmas are often feathery and large, in order to catch the pollen grains.
Studies have convniced plant anatomists that wind-pollinated angiosperms evolved not from the conifers but from earlier insect-pollinated plants. They are best represented in temprate regions and are relatively rare in the tropics. In temperate climates, many trees of the same species, for example, are often found close together, and the dispersal of pollen by wind can occur readily in early spring, (when the trees are leafless).
Most wind-pollinated plants have ovaries with single ovules (and hence single-seeded fruit), because each pollination consists of the meeting of one pollen grain with one stigma and leads to the fertilization of one ovule for each flower.
Current Accessions:
· Cyperus alternifolius - Umbrella Plant {Cyperaceae}
· Cyperus brevifolius - {Cyperaceae}
· Cyperus papyrus - Papyrus, Bulrush, Paper Plant {Cyperaceae}
· Oryza sativa - Rice {Poaceae}
· Zea mexicana - Teosinte {Poaceae}
