Methods of Pollination

TAG: Gardening Advice by Christina

A lot of us are becoming aware that pollinating insects need a bit of help, from providing hedging to slow down strong winds so insects can continue to fly around, through to giving them a larger variety of food in the form of fruiting trees, bushes, cultivated as well as wild flowers.  In turn we hope the pollinators will survive and become stronger so they can continue to pollinate our crops and garden plants.

But did you know there are plants that have evolved to be pollinated in many different ways depending on their environments?

Here are the methods of pollination:

For cross-pollination to take place pollen has to be transferred from one plant to another, there are four ways this can be done:

  1. Insect
  2. Wind
  3. Birds/animals/humans
  4. Water

Insect Pollination

Many insects carry out pollination including:

  • bees - honey, bumble and solitary
  • wasps
  • butterflies/moths
  • hoverflies
  • flies - bluebottles and gnats
  • lacewings

These insects carry out pollination because the plant rewards them with some juicy nectar to drink, or pollen to eat.

Flowers attract insects for pollination with some of the following characteristics:

  • brightly coloured flowers
  • scent
  • large sticky pollen
  • nectaries to feed the insect
  • markings on the petals to guide the insect to the nectar

Wind Pollination

Some plants don't have the above characteristics because they rely on the wind or soft breeze to carry their pollen to the next plant.  These plants' flowers tend to be:

  • small and insignificant
  • often green in colour
  • produce large amounts of pollen
  • have feathery stigmas to catch the pollen and these often hang outside the flower.
  • scentless
  • no nectaries
  • pollen is small, light and not sticky

Examples of plants pollinated by the wind include:

  • grasses
  • many conifers
  • trees such as hazel, willow, and oak.

Bird/animal pollination

Even birds, other animals and humans pollinate plants.  The flowers are usually large compared to insect-pollinated flowers.  They have:

  • solid structures
  • large nectaries
  • sticky pollen

The pollen will stick to birds feathers, animal fur and human clothing then get brushed off on the next plant where fertilisation will take place.

Water pollination

Plants pollinated by water are mainly aquatic or bog plants, pollination takes place as pollen is carried in the flow of the water.

We hope you found this article interesting and helpful.  It's important to have as wide of variety of plants in your garden as possible, not only to help bees, butterflies, insects, birds and other wildlife but to help with soaking up some of the pollution within our environment.

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