Tag: flower and pollination

Bat-pollinated flowers tend to be large and showy, white or light coloured, open at night and have strong musty odours. They are often large and bell-shaped or a ball of stamens. Flowers are typically borne away from the trunk or other obstructions. More than 500 species of plants, spanning 67 plant families, are pollinated by bats. This pollination syndrome is known as chiropterophily. In general, flowers that use this approach tend to be white or dull in colour, open at night, rich with nectar, and musty or rotten smell. 

Even in absence of pollinating agents, seed setting is assured in Commelina, which is also called as 'Asiatic dayflower'. They lack nectar, they offer only pollen as a reward to their visitors. To attract pollinators, the plant has three types of brightly coloured floral organs: the large blue petals, fertile yellow anthers and infertile yellow antherodes that lack pollen.

In ferns spores are haploid hence they have half number of chromosomes where as embryo is diploid.

The outer surface of seed shows a scar or mark of attachment with the seed stalk. It is called hilum. There is small pore, called micropyle, which represent the micropyle of ovule.

A. Funiculus- It is the stalk like structure which attaches the ovule to the placenta.