self-pollination
the transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of the same flower, another flower on the same plant, or the flower of a plant of the same clone.
Compare Meanings
Click for a side-by-side comparison of meanings. Use the word comparison feature to learn the differences between similar and commonly confused words.
Origin of self-pollination
1- Compare cross-pollination.
Words Nearby self-pollination
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use self-pollination in a sentence
The floral mechanism is both simple and effective, favouring cross-pollination, but ensuring self-pollination should that fail.
Pollination in most grasses is brought about by wind, though in a few cases self-pollination occurs.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses | Rai Bahadur K. Ranga AchariyarHe may then, as he pushes down after nectar, leave some pollen upon the pistil, thus assisting in self-pollination.
A Civic Biology | George William HunterFirst the anthers must be carefully removed from the bud of the flower so as to eliminate all possibility of self-pollination.
A Civic Biology | George William HunterJust as in some orchids and cleistogamic flowers self-pollination regularly occurs, so it may also occur in other cases.
Darwin and Modern Science | A.C. Seward and Others
British Dictionary definitions for self-pollination
the transfer of pollen from the anthers to the stigma of the same flower or of another flower on the same plant: Compare cross-pollination
Derived forms of self-pollination
- self-pollinated, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for self-pollination
[ sĕlf′pŏl′ə-nā′shən ]
The transfer of pollen from a male reproductive structure (an anther or male cone) to a female reproductive structure (a stigma or female cone) of the same plant or of the same flower. Self-pollination tends to decrease the genetic diversity (increase the number of homozygous individuals) in a population, and is much less common than cross-fertilization. Many species of plants have evolved mechanisms to promote cross-pollination and avoid self-pollination, though certain plants, such as the pea, regularly self-pollinate. Compare cross-pollination.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse