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 SEXUAL
REPRODUCTION
IN FLOWERING
PLANTS
 PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION

 It is the transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma

of a pistil.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Types of Pollination

Based on the source of

pollen, pollination is 3 types:
a. Autogamy (self-
pollination)
b. Geitonogamy
c. Xenogamy

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Types of Pollination
a) Autogamy (self-pollination)

 It is the transfer of pollen grains from

the anther to stigma of the same
flower.
 In flowers with exposed anthers &
stigma, complete autogamy is rare.
 Autogamy in such flowers requires
synchrony in pollen release and
stigma receptivity. Also, anthers &
stigma should be close to each other.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Types of Pollination
a) Autogamy (self-pollination)

Plants like Viola (common pansy), Oxalis

Chasmogamous & Commelina produce 2 types of flowers:
 Chasmogamous flowers
 Cleistogamous flowers

Cleistogamous

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Types of Pollination
a) Autogamy (self-pollination)

Chasmogamous

Chasmogamous flowers
 They are similar to flowers of other

species with exposed anthers and

stigma.

Cleistogamous

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Types of Pollination
a) Autogamy (self-pollination)
Cleistogamous flowers
 They do not open at all.
 Anthers & stigma lie close to each other.
Chasmogamous
 They are autogamous.
 When anthers dehisce in the flower buds,
pollen grains come in contact with stigma
for pollination.
 Cleistogamous flowers produce assured
seed-set even in the absence of
pollinators.
 Cleistogamy leads to inbreeding
Cleistogamous
depression.
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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Types of Pollination
b) Geitonogamy

 It is the transfer of pollen grains from

the anther to the stigma of another
flower of the same plant.
 It is functionally cross-pollination
involving a pollinating agent. But it is
genetically similar to autogamy since
the pollen grains come from the
same plant.
Geitonogamy

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Types of Pollination
Xenogamy c) Xenogamy

 It is the transfer of pollen grains

from anther to the stigma of a
different plant.
 It brings genetically different pollen
grains to the stigma.

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 PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Agents of Pollination

Abiotic Wind & Water.

agents

Insects, birds, bats,

Biotic primates, arboreal
agents rodents, reptiles etc.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Agents of Pollination
1. Abiotic agents: Wind
 Pollination by wind is called
anemophily.
 More common abiotic agent.
 Wind pollinated flowers often have a
single ovule in each ovary and
numerous flowers packed into an
inflorescence.
 E.g. Corncob – the tassels are the
stigma and style which wave in the wind
to trap pollen grains.
 Wind-pollination is quite common in
Corncob –tassels
grasses.
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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Agents of Pollination
1. Abiotic agents: Wind

Ways for effective pollination

 Flowers produce large amount of
pollen.
 Pollen grains are light and non-sticky.
 They often possess well-exposed
stamens (for easy dispersion of pollens
into wind currents).
 Large, feathery stigma to trap air-
borne pollen grains.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Agents of Pollination
1. Abiotic agents: Water
 Pollination by water is called
hydrophily.
Vallisneria  It is quite rare. It is limited to about 30
genera, mostly monocotyledons.
 E.g. Vallisneria & Hydrilla (fresh water),
Zostera (marine sea-grasses) etc.
Hydrilla  But in lower plants, water is a regular
mode of transport for the male
gametes. Distribution of some
bryophytes & pteridophytes is limited
because they need water for the
Zostera transport of male gametes and
fertilisation.
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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Agents of Pollination
1. Abiotic agents: Water

 In Vallisneria, the female flower

Vallisneria
reaches the surface of water by the long
stalk and the male flowers or pollen
grains are released on to the surface of
water. They are carried by water
Hydrilla currents and reach the female flowers.
 In sea grasses, female flowers remain
submerged in water. Pollen grains are
long and ribbon like. They are carried
inside the water and reach the stigma.
Zostera

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Agents of Pollination
1. Abiotic agents: Water
 The pollen grains of most of the water-
pollinated species have a mucilaginous
covering to protect from wetting.
 Not all aquatic plants use hydrophily.
 In most of aquatic plants (water
hyacinth, water lily etc.), the flowers
emerge above the level of water for
entomophily or anemophily.

Wind & water pollinated flowers are not

very colourful and do not produce nectar.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Agents of Pollination
2. Biotic agents: Animals
 Used by majority of flowering plants.
 E.g. Bees, butterflies, flies, beetles,
wasps, ants, moths, birds (sunbirds &
humming birds) bats, primates (lemurs),
arboreal (tree-dwelling) rodents, reptiles
(gecko lizard & garden lizard) etc.
 Pollination by insects (Entomophily),
particularly bees is more common.
 Often flowers of animal pollinated plants
are specifically adapted for a particular
species of animal.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Agents of Pollination
2. Biotic agents: Animals
Features of insect-pollinated
flowers
 Large, colourful, fragrant and rich in
nectar. Nectar & pollen grains are the
floral rewards for pollination.
 Small flowers form inflorescence to make
them visible.
 The flowers pollinated by flies and beetles
secrete foul odours to attract these
animals.
 The pollen grains are generally sticky.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Agents of Pollination
2. Biotic agents: Animals

 When the animal comes in contact

with the anthers and the stigma,
its body gets pollen grains.
 When it comes in contact with the
stigma, it results in pollination.

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 PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Agents of Pollination
2. Biotic agents: Animals
Some plants provide safe places as floral
reward to lay eggs. E.g.
 Amorphophallus (It has the tallest
flower of 6 feet).
 A moth species and the plant Yucca
cannot complete their life cycles
Yucca without each other. The moth deposits
its eggs in the locule of ovary. The
flower gets pollinated by moth. The
larvae come out of the eggs as seeds
Amorphophallus
start developing.
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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Agents of Pollination
2. Biotic agents: Animals

Many insects consume pollen or

nectar without bringing about
pollination. They are called
pollen/nectar robbers.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Outbreeding Devices

 Hermaphrodite flowers can undergo

self-pollination (autogamy).
 Continued self-pollination results in
inbreeding depression.
 To avoid self-pollination and encourage
cross-pollination, there are some devices
in plants.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Outbreeding Devices

a. Avoiding synchronization:
Here, the pollen is released before
the stigma becomes receptive or
stigma becomes receptive before
the release of pollen.
b. Arrangement of anther & stigma
at different positions.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Outbreeding Devices

c. Self-incompatibility:
It is a genetic mechanism to prevent
self-pollen (from the same flower or
other flowers of the same plant) from
fertilization by inhibiting pollen
germination or pollen tube growth in
the pistil.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Outbreeding Devices

d. Production of unisexual flowers:

If male & female flowers are present
on the same plant (i.e., monoecious,
e.g. castor & maize), it prevents
autogamy but not geitonogamy.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Outbreeding Devices
Male
d. Production of unisexual flowers:
If male & female flowers are present
on the same plant (i.e., monoecious,
e.g. castor & maize), it prevents
autogamy but not geitonogamy.
In dioecious plants (e.g. papaya),
male and female flowers are present
on different plants (dioecy). This
prevents both autogamy and
Papaya: Male and female
geitonogamy.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Pollen-pistil Interaction
 It is a process in which pistil recognizes
compatible or incompatible pollen
through the chemical components
produced by them.
 If the pollen is compatible (right type),
the pistil accepts it and promotes post-
pollination events.
Pollen grain germinates on stigma to
a. Pollen grains produce a pollen tube through one of
germinating on the the germ pores. The contents of pollen
stigma. grain move into the pollen tube. Pollen
b. Pollen tubes growing tube grows through the tissues of stigma
through the style. and style and reaches the ovary.

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 PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Pollen-pistil Interaction

(a) Entry of tube into a synergid.

(b) Discharge of male gametes into
a synergid and the movements
of the sperms, one into the egg
and the other into the central
cell.

 If the pollen is incompatible (wrong type), the pistil rejects pollen by preventing
pollen germination or the pollen tube growth.
 In plants which shed pollen grains at 2-celled condition (a vegetative cell & a
generative cell), the generative cell divides into two male gametes during pollen
tube growth.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Pollen-pistil Interaction
 In plants which shed pollen in the 3-
celled condition, pollen tubes carry 2
male gametes from the beginning.
 Pollen tube reaches the ovary, then
enters the ovule through micropyle and
then enters one of the synergids through
the filiform apparatus. The filiform
apparatus present at the micropylar part
of the synergids guides the entry of
pollen tube.
A plant breeder can manipulate pollen-pistil
interaction, even in incompatible pollinations, to
get desired hybrids.

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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Artificial hybridisation

 It is a crop improvement programme

in which desired pollen grains are
used for pollination.
 This is achieved by following
techniques:
 Emasculation
 Bagging

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 PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Artificial hybridisation
 Emasculation: Removal of anthers
from the bisexual flower bud of female
parent before the anther dehisces.
 Bagging: Here, emasculated flowers
are covered with a suitable bag (made
up of butter paper) to prevent
Emasculation contamination of its stigma with
unwanted pollen.
When the stigma attains receptivity,
mature pollen grains collected from
anthers of male parent are dusted on
the stigma. Then the flowers are
Bagging rebagged and allowed to develop the
Artificial pollination
fruits.
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PRE-FERTILIZATION: STRUCTURES & EVENTS
POLLINATION Artificial hybridisation

For unisexual flowers, there is no need

for emasculation. Female flower buds
are bagged before the flowers open.
When the stigma becomes receptive,
pollination is carried out using the
desired pollen and the flower
rebagged.

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 DOUBLE FERTILIZATION

 After entering one of the synergids, the pollen tube releases the 2 male gametes
into the cytoplasm of the synergid. One male gamete moves towards the egg cell
and fuses with its nucleus (syngamy) to form zygote (diploid).
 The other male gamete moves towards the two polar nuclei located in the central
cell and fuses with them to produce a triploid primary endosperm nucleus (PEN). As
it involves fusion of 3 haploid nuclei, it is called triple fusion.
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 DOUBLE FERTILIZATION

 Since 2 types of fusions (syngamy & triple fusion) take place in an embryo sac, it
is called double fertilisation.
 It is an event unique to flowering plants.

 The central cell after triple fusion becomes primary endosperm cell (PEC) and
develops into the endosperm. Zygote develops into an embryo.

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