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Anemophily or wind pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen is distributed by wind. Almost all are anemophilous, as are many plants in the order Poales, including Poaceae, Cyperaceae, and Juncaceae. Other common anemophilous plants are , , , , , hops, and members of the family Juglandaceae (hickory or walnut family). Approximately 12% of plants across the globe are pollinated by anemophily, including Cereal like rice and Maize and other prominent crop plants like wheat, rye, barley, and . In addition, many , , and are wind-pollinated.
Anemophilous pollen grains are smooth, light, and non-sticky, so that they can be transported by air currents. Wind-pollinating plants have no predisposition to attract pollinating organisms. They freely expel a myriad of these pollen grains, and only a small percentage of them ends up captured by the female floral structures on wind-pollinated plants. They are typically in diameter, although the pollen grains of Pinus species can be much larger and much less dense. Anemophilous plants possess lengthy, well-exposed to catch and distribute pollen. These stamens are exposed to wind currents and also have large, feathery stigma to easily trap airborne pollen grains. Pollen from anemophilous plants tends to be smaller and lighter than pollen from entomophilous ones, with very low nutritional value to insects due to their low protein content. However, insects sometimes gather pollen from staminate anemophilous flowers at times when higher-protein pollens from entomophilous flowers are scarce. Anemophilous pollens may also be inadvertently captured by ' electrostatic field. This may explain why, though bees are not observed to visit ragweed flowers, its pollen is often found in honey made during the ragweed floral bloom. Other flowers that are generally anemophilous are observed to be actively worked by bees, with solitary bees often visiting Poaceae flowers, and the larger and frequently gathering pollen from maize tassels and other grains.
Anemophily is an adaptation that helps to separate the male and female reproductive systems of a single plant, reducing the effects of inbreeding. It often accompanies dioecy – the presence of male and female reproductive structures on separate plants. Anemophily is adaptively beneficial because it promotes outcrossing and thus the avoidance of inbreeding depression that can occur due to the expression of recessive deleterious in inbred progeny plants.Charlesworth D, Willis JH. The genetics of inbreeding depression. Nat Rev Genet. 2009 Nov;10(11):783-96. doi: 10.1038/nrg2664. PMID: 19834483
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