{"id":267,"date":"2014-10-29T13:12:17","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T13:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbisec.com\/?page_id=267"},"modified":"2014-10-29T13:12:17","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T13:12:17","slug":"monoecious-vs-dioecious","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/orbisec.com\/index.php\/monoecious-vs-dioecious\/","title":{"rendered":"Monoecious vs. Dioecious"},"content":{"rendered":"

YOUR DAILY DOSE OF BOTANY \u2013 JANUARY 2014<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Monoecious vs. Dioecious<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Scott Namestnik, snamestnik@orbisec.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Yellow<\/a>
Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum), with perfect flowers<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"American<\/a>
American Hazelnut (Corylus americana) has both male flowers (yellowish catkins) and female flowers (with reddish stigmas, in top left of photograph) on the same plant<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Staminate<\/a>
Staminate flowers of Pussy Willow (Salix discolor)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019ve spent time using keys to identify plants, it is very likely that you\u2019ve run into road blocks in the form of the words monoecious and dioecious. \u00a0What do these terms mean?
\nMost plants have flowers that contain both male parts (stamens) and female parts (pistils).\u00a0 Think of the flowers of a Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum<\/em>), for example.\u00a0 When each flower has functional male and female parts, as is the case in Yellow Trout Lily, the flower is said to be perfect<\/em>.\u00a0 An imperfect<\/em> flower, then, is one that has either functional male parts (staminate<\/em> flowers), or functional female parts (pistillate<\/em> or carpellate<\/em> flowers), but not both.\u00a0 When a plant has imperfect flowers, they can be arranged in one of two ways.\u00a0 If all of the flowers on a plant are either staminate or pistillate, the plant is said to be dioecious<\/em>, and the plant is then considered either a reproductively male individual or a reproductively female individual.\u00a0 Willows (Salix<\/em> spp.) are dioecious, because you will only find staminate or pistillate flowers on an individual plant.\u00a0 On the other hand, if a plant has imperfect flowers, but<\/p>\n

both staminate and pistillate flowers are found on the same plant, the plant is said to be monoecious<\/em>.\u00a0 An example of a genus of monoecious plants is hazelnut (Corylus<\/em> spp.).\u00a0 One way to remember the difference between monoecious and dioecious plants is to look at the translations of the words monoecious and dioecious. \u00a0Monoecious\u201d is translated as \u201csingle house,\u201d meaning that male and female flowers are found on a single individual.\u00a0 This contrasts with the translation of dioecious, which is \u201cdouble house.\u201d\u00a0 This means that male flowers are on one plant and female flowers are on another plant.<\/p>\n

\"Pistillate<\/a>
Pistillate flowers (and fruit) of Sage Willow (Salix candida)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you have a question about plant terminology or morphology that you would like answered in a future edition of this column, send me an email at snamestnik@orbisec.com<\/a>.\u00a0 I may not be able to address all requests given the space allotted for this column, but I will answer those that I can.<\/p>\n