dichogamy
/dʌɪˈkɒɡəmi
/noun [mass noun] Botany
The ripening of the stamens and pistils of a flower at different times, so that self-fertilization is prevented. Compare with homogamy (sense 3).However, the form of dichogamy (protogyny and protandry) is likely to have different consequences for autogamy versus geitonogamy....
- Flowering plants have several mechanisms that have evolved to prevent self-fertilization, e.g. self-incompatibility systems, heterostyly and dichogamy.
- However, if flowering is asynchronous and the behaviour of individual pollinators does not follow a regular pattern within a plant, dichogamy might have little effect on reducing geitonogamy.
Derivatives
dichogamous
- Darwin deduced that the first flowers to open sometimes aborted because they were of no use in dichogamous hermaphrodite plants.
- Flowers are unisexual, dichogamous in nature and, thus, most species are open-pollinated.
- The breeding system of the dichogamous hermaphrodite species Silene acutifolia, endemic to north-west Spain and north and central Portugal, is examined.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from Greek dikho- 'apart, in two' + gamos 'marriage'.