From spiderhunters@yahoo.com Sun Sep 12 20:05:37 2004 Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 12:45:50 -0700 From: Vivek TiwariTo: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU Subject: Fwd: Botany: A new self-pollination mechanism Nature 431, 39 - 40 (02 September 2004); doi:10.1038/431039b Botany: A new self-pollination mechanism YINGQIANG WANG*^Ć, DIANXIANG ZHANG*, SUSANNE S. RENNER^Ç & ZHONGYI CHEN* * South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China ^Ć Zhongkai Agrotechnical College, Guangzhou 510225, China 3 Department of Biology, Ludwig Maximilians University, 80638 Munich, Germany dx-zhang@scib.ac.cn Pollen grains from most flowering plants are transported by wind or animals and deposited on the receptive surface of the stigma of a different individual, but self-pollination is also common. We have discovered a new process for self-pollination in the laterally orientated flowers of a Chinese herb, in which a film of pollen is transported from the anther (pollen sacs) by an oily emulsion that slides sideways along the flower's style and into the individual's own stigma. This mode of self-pollination is a new addition to the broad range of genetic and morphological mechanisms that have evolved in flowering plants (angiosperms), and may be common in species growing in shady, windless and insect-poor habitats. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2004 Nature Publishing Group Privacy Policy __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail