self-fertilization
Americannoun
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Botany. fertilization of an ovum of a plant by a male gamete from the same flower (opposed to cross-fertilization).
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Zoology. fertilization of the ovum of a hermaphroditic animal by a sperm from the same individual, as in some species of tapeworm.
noun
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Fertilization that occurs when male and female gametes produced by the same organism unite. Self-fertilization occurs in many protozoans and invertebrate animals. It results from self-pollination in plants. Self-fertilization allows an isolated individual organism to reproduce but restricts the genetic diversity of a community.
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Compare cross-fertilization
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of self-fertilization
First recorded in 1855–60
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Among a handful of species exist hermaphrodites capable of self-fertilization.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2024
Although self-fertilization forms seeds by meiosis, all of the resulting plants will be identical.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Modern maize breeders have systematically reduced the effects of this constant mutational pressure through artificial selection and self-fertilization, which have exposed rare recessive variants in elite inbred lines5.
From Nature ● Mar. 13, 2018
As convenient as it might sound to forego the headaches of courting a mate, the team points out that self-fertilization comes at a cost: the isolated worms produced fewer hatchlings with lower survival rates.
From Science Magazine ● Jul. 1, 2015
This is self-fertilization, and is easily provided for by the mere bending of the head of the flower as it approaches maturity, or by the swaying of it in the breeze.
From The Relations of Science and Religion The Morse Lecture, 1880 by Calderwood, Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
