Pollinium
A pollinium (pl.: pollinia) is a coherent mass of
Most orchids have waxy pollinia. These are connected to one or two elongate stipes,[clarification needed][3] which in turn are attached to a sticky viscidium, a disc-shaped structure that sticks to a visiting insect.[2]
Some orchid genera have mealy pollinia. These are tapering into a caudicle (stalk), attached to the viscidium. They extend into the middle section of the column.
The pollinarium is a collective term that means either (1) the complete set of pollinia from all the anthers of a flower, as in Asclepiadoideae, (2) in Asclepiadoideae, a pair of pollinia and the parts that connect them (corpusculum and translator arms), or (3) in orchids, a pair of pollinia with two viscidia and the other connecting parts.[1]
Milkweed pollinia are housed within a
-
The waxy pollinia of a Phalaenopsis
-
Pollinia of a Phalaenopsis orchid
-
Pollinium of Ophrys apifera
-
Pollinia of Asclepias syriaca
-
Male bee (Eucera cinnamomea) with pollinium attached to its head
-
Honeybee on antelope horn (Asclepias asperula) with pollinia attached to legs
-
Pollinia of milkweed (Asclepias) on the legs of carpenteer bee (Xylocopa virginica)
-
Pollinia of milkweed (Asclepias) on the legs of bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata)
-
Honeybee with a leg trapped in common milkweedpollinia slits
References
- ^ a b c Beentje, H.; Williamson, J. (2010). The Kew Plant Glossary: an Illustrated Dictionary of Plant Terms. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Kew Publishing.
- ^ a b Hickey, M.; King, C. (2001). The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms. Cambridge University Press.
- ISBN 9781402005800.
- ^ Theresa Dellinger (August 5, 2016). "Milkweed pollinia". Virginia Tech Insect Collection.
- ^ Peter Chen. "Milkweed: Fatal Attractions". nicerweb.com.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)