entomophilous

[en-tuh-mof-uh-luhs]

adjective

1. pollinated by or having spores distributed by insects.

entomophilous

/ ˌɛntəˈmɒfɪləs /

adjective

1. (of flowering plants) pollinated by insects Compare anemophilous

entomophilous

1. Pollinated by insects.

Other Word Forms

• entomophily noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of entomophilous¹

First recorded in 1875–80; entomo- + -philous

Example Sentences

The genus Plantago, like Thalictrum minus, Poterium, and others, well illustrate the change from an entomophilous to the anemophilous state.

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Both these authors remark that plants must have been anemophilous before they were entomophilous.

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Delpino states that this plant presents in Italy three forms, which graduate from an anemophilous into an entomophilous condition.

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In the class Monoecia of Linnaeus, Delpino shows that the species of twenty-eight genera are anemophilous, and of seventeen genera entomophilous.

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The larger proportion of entomophilous genera in this latter class is probably the indirect result of insects having the power of carrying pollen to another and sometimes distant plant much more securely than the wind.

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