Soybean and Bees

Types of reproductive
structure of plants
Monecious and dioecious plants
The pollination process is largely linked to the type of floral structure of the plants. Relating
to its reproductive constitution, some plants have flowers that are not perfect, i.e., they do not
have both male and female reproductive parts in the same structure. Instead, they produce male
flowers that have only stamens or female flowers that have only pistils.
Monecious plants (Figure 4) have separate male and female flowers rather than perfect flowers,
both on the same plant. Corn is a typical monecious plant. It has two types of flowers that develop
at different parts of the plant. The male flower forms at the top of the plant and is called
the tassel, while the female is located inside the ear, a structure that will late contain the seeds,
positioned on the middle part of the stalk.
Photos: Decio Luiz Gazzoni
Tassel
Ear
Tassel of a corn plant
(male structure).
Anthers on the
tassel (male
structure).
Corn plant, tassel and ear.
Ear of the corn
(female structure).
Figure 4. Parts of the reproductive structure of a monecious plant (corn).
Long silks
connect to the
ovary (female
structure).
SoybeAn and bees
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