250123-Suetsugu-Stigmatodactylus-Pollination (IMAGE)
Caption
By the third day after the flower opens, its stigma has collapsed and comes into contact with the pollen-carrying anther. This enables the pollen to extend their tubes through the appendage into the stigma and subsequently into the ovary, thereby fertilizing the plant. “The movement of the stigma appendage represents, to the best of our knowledge, a novel self-pollination mechanism in orchids,” the Kobe University botanist SUETSUGU Kenji writes in his paper now published in the journal Plants, People, Planet.
Credit
IKEDA Tetsuro
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License
CC BY