autogamy

American  

[aw-tog-uh-mee] / ɔˈtɒg ə mi /

noun

1. Botany. pollination of the ovules of a flower by its own pollen; self-fertilization (opposed to allogamy).

2. Biology. conjugation in an individual organism by division of its nucleus into two parts that in turn reunite to form a zygote.

---

autogamy British  

/ ˌɔːtəˈɡæmɪk, ɔːˈtɒɡəmɪ /

noun

1. self-fertilization in flowering plants

2. a type of sexual reproduction, occurring in some protozoans, in which the uniting gametes are derived from the same cell

---

autogamy Scientific  

/ ô-tŏg′ə-mē /

1. See self-fertilization

2. The union of nuclei within and arising from a single cell, as in certain protozoans and fungi.

---

Other Word Forms

• autogamic adjective
• autogamous adjective

Etymology

Origin of autogamy

First recorded in 1875–80; auto- ¹ + -gamy

Example Sentences

The opposite of allogamy is autogamy, or self-pollination.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 1 A to Amide by Various

It appears that this plant has lost the capacity for autogamy; at any rate, if a stigma be pollinated with pollen from the same flower on plants in a garden, no result follows.

From Beautiful Bulbous Plants For the Open Air by Weathers, John

The terms xenogamy, geitonogamy, and autogamy were first suggested by Kerner in 1876; their definition will be found at page 9 of Ogle's translation of Kerner's "Flowers and their Unbidden Guests," 1878.

From More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 by Darwin, Francis, Sir