A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains.
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of modified leaves called sepals, that collectively form the calyx and lie just beneath the corolla. The calyx and the corolla together make up the perianth, the non-reproductive portion of a flower. When the petals and sepals of a flower are difficult to distinguish, they are collectively called tepals. Examples of plants in which the term tepal is appropriate include genera such as Aloe and Tulipa. Conversely, genera such as Rosa and Phaseolus have well-distinguished sepals and petals. When the undifferentiated tepals resemble petals, they are referred to as "petaloid", as in petaloid monocots, orders of monocots with brightly colored tepals. Since they include Liliales, an alternative name is lilioid monocots.
The stamen is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium.
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example beetles or butterflies; birds, and bats; water; wind; and even plants themselves. Pollinating animals travel from plant to plant carrying pollen on their bodies in a vital interaction that allows the transfer of genetic material critical to the reproductive system of most flowering plants. When self-pollination occurs within a closed flower. Pollination often occurs within a species. When pollination occurs between species, it can produce hybrid offspring in nature and in plant breeding work.
Self-pollination is a form of pollination in which pollen from the same plant arrives at the stigma of a flower or at the ovule. There are two types of self-pollination: in autogamy, pollen is transferred to the stigma of the same flower; in geitonogamy, pollen is transferred from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower on the same flowering plant, or from microsporangium to ovule within a single (monoecious) gymnosperm. Some plants have mechanisms that ensure autogamy, such as flowers that do not open (cleistogamy), or stamens that move to come into contact with the stigma. The term selfing that is often used as a synonym, is not limited to self-pollination, but also applies to other type of self-fertilization.
Plant reproductive morphology is the study of the physical form and structure of those parts of plants directly or indirectly concerned with sexual reproduction.
Caltha is a genus of rhizomatous perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, to which ten species have been assigned. They occur in moist environments in temperate and cold regions of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Their leaves are generally heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, or are characteristically diplophyllous. Flowers are star shaped and mostly yellow to white. True petals and nectaries are missing but the five or more sepals are distinctly colored. As usual in the buttercup family there is a circle of stamens around free carpels.
Clusia is the type genus of the plant family Clusiaceae. Comprising 300-400 species, it is native to the Neotropics. The genus is named by Carl Linnaeus in honor of the botanist Carolus Clusius.
Lindera is a genus of about 80–100 species of flowering plants in the family Lauraceae, mostly native to eastern Asia but with three species in eastern North America. The species are shrubs and small trees; common names include spicewood, spicebush, and Benjamin bush.
A flower, also known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants. Flowers consist of a combination of vegetative organs – sepals that enclose and protect the developing flower, petals that attract pollinators, and reproductive organs that produce gametophytes, which in flowering plants produce gametes. The male gametophytes, which produce sperm, are enclosed within pollen grains produced in the anthers. The female gametophytes are contained within the ovules produced in the carpels.
Melastoma affine, also known by the common names blue tongue or native lassiandra, is a shrub of the family Melastomataceae. Distributed in tropical and sub-tropical forests of India, South-east Asia and Australia, it is a plant of rainforest margins. Bees are the principal pollinators of this species.
Ornithophily or bird pollination is the pollination of flowering plants by birds. This sometimes coevolutionary association is derived from insect pollination (entomophily) and is particularly well developed in some parts of the world, especially in the tropics, Southern Africa, and on some island chains. The association involves several distinctive plant adaptations forming a "pollination syndrome". The plants typically have colourful, often red, flowers with long tubular structures holding ample nectar and orientations of the stamen and stigma that ensure contact with the pollinator. Birds involved in ornithophily tend to be specialist nectarivores with brushy tongues and long bills, that are either capable of hovering flight or light enough to perch on the flower structures.
In zoology, a palynivore /pəˈlɪnəvɔːɹ/, meaning "pollen eater" is an herbivorous animal which selectively eats the nutrient-rich pollen produced by angiosperms and gymnosperms. Most true palynivores are insects or mites. The category in its strictest application includes most bees, and a few kinds of wasps, as pollen is often the only solid food consumed by all life stages in these insects. However, the category can be extended to include more diverse species. For example, palynivorous mites and thrips typically feed on the liquid content of the pollen grains without actually consuming the exine, or the solid portion of the grain. Additionally, the list is expanded greatly if one takes into consideration species where either the larval or adult stage feeds on pollen, but not both. There are other wasps which are in this category, as well as many beetles, flies, butterflies, and moths. One such example of a bee species that only consumes pollen in its larval stage is the Apis mellifera carnica. There is a vast array of insects that will feed opportunistically on pollen, as will various birds, orb-weaving spiders and other nectarivores.
The ecology of Banksia is the relationships and interactions among the plant genus Banksia and its environment. Banksia has a number of adaptations that have so far enabled the genus to survive despite dry, nutrient-poor soil, low rates of seed set, high rates of seed predation and low rates of seedling survival. These adaptations include proteoid roots and lignotubers; specialised floral structures that attract nectariferous animals and ensure effective pollen transfer; and the release of seed in response to bushfire.
The masked flowerpiercer is a species of bird in the tanager family, Thraupidae. It is found in humid montane forest and scrub in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Flowerpiercers got their name from the fact that they have a sharp hook on the tip of their upper mandible which they use to slice open the base of flowers to get at the nectar.
Axinaea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melastomataceae. As of 2012, there are at least 42 species. They are small trees and shrubs. They are native to the Americas; almost all are found in the Andes.
Axinaea sclerophylla is a species of tree in the family Melastomataceae. It is endemic to Ecuador, where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
Papilionaceous flowers are flowers with the characteristic irregular and butterfly-like corolla found in many, though not all, plants of the species-rich Faboideae subfamily of legumes. Tournefort suggested that the term Flores papilionacei originated with Valerius Cordus, who applied it to the flowers of the bean.
Bombus affinis, commonly known as the rusty patched bumble bee, is a species of bumblebee endemic to North America. Its historical range in North America has been throughout the east and upper Midwest of the United States, north to Ontario, Canada, where it is considered a "species at risk", east to Quebec, south to Georgia, and west to the Dakotas. Its numbers have declined in 87% of its historical habitat range. On January 10, 2017, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service placed B. affinis on the list of endangered species, making the rusty patched bumblebee the first bee to be added to the list in the continental United States.
Pachycentria glauca is a small epiphytic shrub in the Melastomataceae family. It has 2 subspecies: P. glauca subsp. glauca and P. glauca subsp. maingayi. The glauca subspecies is endemic to Borneo, the maingayi subspecies is native to Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand, perhaps Sumatra. It grows on trees, other epiphytes and rocks in partial shade. It is intimately associated with particular ant species, growing on their gardens, providing a home for them, feeding them and having its seeds dispersed by them.
