Pollen - Pistil Interaction Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key terms, mechanisms, structures, and chemical factors involved in pollen-pistil interaction and pollen germination.

Pollen - Pistil Interaction

The interaction of pollen grains with sporophytic tissue (stigma) that begins with pollination and ends with fertilization, including all events from pollen deposition on the stigma to the entry of the pollen tube in the ovule (synergid).

Compatible Pollen

Right type of pollen from the same species (intraspecific) that is accepted by the pistil, absorbs water and nutrients from the stigmatic surface, and germinates to form a pollen tube.

Incompatible Pollen

Wrong type of pollen that is recognized, refused, and discarded by the stigmatic surface through a physiological mechanism that inhibits germination.

Special Proteins

Molecules that determine the compatibility and incompatibility of the pollen-pistil interaction during recognition.

Stigmatic Surface

The sporophytic tissue surface of a flower that provides essential prerequisites for successful germination that are absent in the pollen.

Synergid

A structure inside the ovule's embryo sac into which the tip of the pollen tube enters and ruptures to release its contents.

Sucrose

A substance that induces pollen germination and tube growth in a synthetic medium.

Boric Acid

A compound that facilitates and accelerates pollen germination in a synthetic medium.