Pollination Mechanisms

Pollination: Process of pollen transfer from anther to stigma of a flower.

Autogamy (Self Pollination) : Pollen transferred from an anther to the stigma of the same flower.
Cross Pollination: Pollen transferred to stigma of another flower
1. Geitonogamy- pollination occurs between two flowers on the same plant
2. Xenogamy- Pollination occurs between two flowers on different plants.
Agencies of Pollination :
1. Anemophily- wind (Abiotic)
2. Hydrophily- water (Abiotic)
3. Entomophily - Insects (Biotic)
4. Ornithophily - Birds (Biotic)
5. Cheiropterophily - Bats (Biotic)
 Diurnal by insects
1. Insects are the chief pollinators mainly bees, flies, wasps, moths and beetles.
2. Salvias show a specialized “Turn pipe” mechanism.
3. Salvia flowers have bilipped corolla and the two stamens are attached to the corolla tube.
4. Only one half of the anther is fertile and the sterile halves of both the anthers jointly form a sterile plate of tissue which is placed above the lower lip at the
mouth of the flower. The fertile halves are situated under the hood of the upper lip of the corolla.
5. The insect visitor alights on the sterile plate as a result of which the fertile lobe dusts the pollen
on the back of the insect. When the same insect visits another flower of the same kind,
the bent style touches the back of the insect, receiving the pollen.
This is called the lever or turn pipe mechanism.
 Diurnal by Birds
1. Pollination by birds like humming birds, sun birds, honey eaters etc.
2. Birds which come to feed on flower material and fruits often allow dispersal of pollen grains with them to other nearby flowers.
3. General characters of ornithophilous flowers are their tubular (Nicotiana glauca) , Cup shaped (Callistemon ) and urn shaped (Some
members of Ericaceae) form, bright color, large quantity of pollen and plenty of nectar.
4. The pistils and stamens usually project beyond the perianth lobes.
5. As the hummingbird dips its beak into the long flower tube, the top of its head
picks up pollen from the flower’s anthers. The male (anther) parts of the flower
are first to project from a new flower. A day or two later, the anthers fold down
and the female (stigma) projects from the flower tube to receive pollen from
younger flowers. In this way, the plant ensures that it gets cross-pollinated.
6. In Strelitzia reginae pollination is brought about by sun birds. Flowers are
Borne in a boat shaped bract. Of the threesepals , two form a long and stiff spear head.
The stamens and carpel which are enclosed within the spear head, get exposed only
with the pressure of the visiting bird.
7. A unique feature of this plant is the presence of certain sticky, thread like structures in
anther cavity each holding hundreds of pollen grains.
8. When a bird visits these flowers, the pollen laden threadscget attached to its breast or
belly and move with it from flower to flower.
Nocturnal : pollination by moths
[Link] are predominantly nocturnal visitors and are restricte
Nectar con taining flowers which are dull yellow or white as
such flowers stand out in fading evening light or even at nigh
2. Flower visiting moths are divided into two groups- large
hawkmoths(Sphingidae) and small settling moths (Noctuidae
Large hawkmoths have a high metabolic rate, often forage by
hovering in front rather than alighting on the flowers, and
usually have longer [Link] by hawkmoths is
called Sphingophily and flowers pollinated by them are large,
tubular or brush like.
3. Settling moths fly slowly and flowers pollinated by them are
small and present in aggregated [Link] seek
nectar by landing and walking on the inflorescences.
Pollination by settling moths is called Phalaenophily.
4. Yucca is a classic example of moth pollinated species
with obligate pollination mutualism existing between
yuccas(Agavaceae) and yucca moths (Lepidoptera)
5. Yucca is pollinated by moth known as
Tegeticulla yuccasella.
6. When a female is ready to lay eggs, she visits a yucca
flower to collect pollen. While collecting the sticky pollen
with her tentacles, the female moth keeps packing the
pollen into a ball and sticking it under her head
.
7. When same moth flies off to another freshly opened
Yucca flower to lay her eggs inside the ovary, she scrapes
A small amount of pollen from the sticky ball and packs it
 Nocturnal by Bats
1. Pollination by bats as they are instrumentals as pollinators only in tropics.
2. Flowers are borne singly or ijn clusters quite away from
the branches and foliage owing to their long stalk which
Facilitates the visit of bats to the flowers .
3. The pollinating bats have va long and slender muzzle and an extensive tongue. They clasp the
flowers with their claws and lap nectar.
4. Flowers of sausage tree (Kigelia africana) have a long floral tube and collect nectar at its base.
Only small bats such as Micropteris pusillus which can fold itself neatly into the floral tube can
obtain nectar from it.
5. The bat lands on the petals and during nectar lapping its back gets dusted with pollen powder.
Artificial Hybridization
Artificial hybridization refers to instances in which
these crosses occur under controlled conditions, often
under the direction of plant or animal breeders.
Emasculation
The removal of the anthers of a flower in order to
prevent self-pollination or the undesirable pollination
of neighbouring plants.
Bagging
The emasculated flowers are immediately covered by
paper, plastic or polythene bags.
The process is called bagging. It prevents unwanted
pollen to come in contact with the emasculated
flowers.