Abiotic Pollination

• Abiotic pollination occurs without the involvement of living organisms and accounts for up to 20 percent of all natural pollination. Nearly all abiotic pollination is caused by wind, but a very small number of plants are pollinated by water. Most plants that pollinate by wind are grasses, conifers and deciduous trees. Their pollen is blown from plant to plant, leading to fertilization. Aquatic plants release their pollen into the water, where it floats until it reaches the stigma of another flower.
  
  

Biotic Pollination

• Biotic pollination is the most common form of pollination, accounting for around 80 percent of natural pollination. Biotic pollination requires the intervention of animals to move pollen from one flower to another. The various flowering plants have differing traits that attract a variety of pollinators such as bees, wasps, butterflies, hummingbirds and other organisms that carry out the process of pollination. Animals are typically attracted to pollinating flowers when they produce nectar. The animals approach the flower to feed and pollen sticks to their bodies. When the animals move to drink from another flower, the pollen rubs off into the new plant.
  
  

Flower Anatomy

• Pollinating plants are hermaphroditic, meaning they contain both male and female reproductive traits. The male part, or stamen, produces the pollen. The female part is called the pistil. The pistil has a sticky tip called the stigma which is used to collect pollen from other plants via abiotic and biotic pollination. The area at the bottom of the pistil, called the ovule, is where seeds are produced once the stamen has been fertilized by pollen. In order to be fertilized, the stamen must receive pollen from a plant of the same species.
  
  

Cross-Pollination and Self-Pollination

• The most common action of pollination is called cross-pollination; this simply means that the plant receives pollen from another plant. Cross-pollinating plants usually have taller stamens in order to be more easily attach pollen to feeding animals. Another form of pollination, self-pollination, does not require outside pollinators to spread pollen to other flowers. As the name suggests, self-pollinating plants adapt to move pollen from the stamen to the stigma of the same plant. These plants typically have stamen and stigma of similar lengths.