What is Pollination?
[[File:Pollen from pine tree 2.jpg|thumb|200px|Pollen flowing from a pine tree. [[Conifer]]s are wind-pollinated.]] [[File:Corntassel 7095.jpg|thumb|200px|Corn ([[maize]]) male flower (corn tassel). The stamens of the flower produce a light, fluffy pollen which is borne on the wind to the female flowers (silks) of other corn plants.]] [[File:Bees Gathering Pollen.jpg|thumb|200px|Bee drinking nectar]] [[File:Bee covered in pollen.jpg|thumb|200px|Bumblebee covered with pollen]] [[File:Bee orchid, former Barton Tip - geograph.org.uk - 850728.jpg|thumb|200px|The [[Ophrys apifera|bee orchid]] mimics bees in appearance and scent: this suggests a close coevolution of a species of flower and a species of insect.]] '''Pollination''' is part of [[sexual reproduction]] in [[plant]]s. It describes how the [[pollen]] grains get to the female parts of a plant. Pollen grains, which contain the male [[gamete]]s, need to get to where the female gamete(s) are. What happens is basically the same as sexual reproduction in animals. Each pollen grain is [[haploid]]: it has half of the [[DNA]] (genetic information) that is needed to make a new plant. During [[fertilization]] this combines with the DNA that is in the egg of the female part and a [[zygote]] is formed. In [[seed plant]]s a [[seed]] is started. == Ways of pollinating == In [[flowering plant]]s, pollen has to get from one flower to another.<ref>There are plants which are self-pollinated; and some which have no longer use sexual reproduction.</ref> There are two main ways that this can happen: by non-living things like wind or water, or by living things such as [[insect]]s or [[bird]]s. === Maize and the wind === [[Maize]] (called [[corn]] in some parts of the world) is pollinated by [[wind]]. The male anthers let go of their pollen and it blows over to a nearby female flower on another corn plant. Most of the flowers are either male or female on a corn plant ([[monoecious]]), rather than both sexes in one flower ([[hermaphrodite]]). Maize flowers have [[evolved]] (cha