Plant help!?! 10 points?

Question

1) What is the function of the pollination secreted by female pine cones. What would happen if it wasn't present?

2) Some plants form flowers that produce stamens but no carpels. Could fruit form on one of these? Why or why not?

3) Would you expedt pollen grains of wind-pollinated flowers to be sticky? How could you test your answer's accuracy?

Answer 1

1.  The pollination droplet is a stickly liquid that the pollen lands in.  As the droplet dries, it draws the pollen in the pollination chamber through the micropyle.  I would guess that if the pollination droplet were not present, pollen would not make it through the micropyle and get close to the megagametophyte and therefore be able to germinate and fertilize the egg.

2.  The fruit will form only on the plants with carpels, i.e., the trees with ovulate ("female") flowers.  A fruit is a mature ovary and/or accessory parts.  The staminate ("male") plants do not have ovaries.  (I'm using ovary and carpel as synonyms here, but that may not be true for all ovaries--some could be made of more than one carpel.)

3.  That's a good question.  Obviously wind borne pollen sticks to microscope slides and the like for those people who check pollen in the air.  But I don't know if it would be any stickier than insect or bird transferred pollen.