ORNITHOPHILY & CHIROPTEROPHILY

STD-12      UNIT-6     CHA-2

REPRODUCTION IN FLOWERING PLANT

ORNITHOPHILY & CHIROPTEROPHILY

ORNITHOPHILY

• Ornithophily ( Gk . ornis - bird , philein- to love ) . 

• It is the mode of allogamy performed by birds . 
• Only a few types of birds are specialised for this . 
• They usually have small size and long beaks . 
• Two common types of tropical pollinating birds are sun birds ( Afro - Asia ) and humming birds ( America ) . 
• Hummingbirds perform pollination while hovering over the flowers . 
• Sun birds alight over the shoots supporting flowers or occasionally rest over the flowers . 
• Some other pollinating birds are Crow , Bulbil , Parrot and Meynah . 
• Ornithophilous plants are very few as compared to entomophilous plants . 
• Only about 100 species of Aus tralian plants are ornithophilous , Common bird pollinated plants are Bombax ( Red Silk Cotton ) , Erythrina ( Coral Tree ) , Callistemon ( Bottle Brush ) , Butea monosperma Bignonia , Lobelia , Agave , Grevillea , etc. 

• Characteristics of bird pollinated Flowers 

• The ornithophilous flowers secrete abundant watery nectar or have edible parts . 
• The nectar is secreted in such abundance that drops of it can be brought down by shaking branches of Grevillea and Erythrina . Nectar is mainly made of sugar . A humming bird may suck nectar in a single day in such quantity as to have sugar equivalent to half of its body weight.
• Ornithophilous flowers are usually brightly coloured red , orange , yellow or blue . 
• The Noral parts are commonly leathery . In some cases , the corolla is funnel shaped
• Scent is often absent .

CHIROPTEROPHILY

• Chiropterophily ( Gk cheir - hand , pteros - wing , philein- to love ) .

• It is cross pol lination performed by bats . 
• Bats are nocturnal flying mammals which can transport pollen over long distance , sometimes over 30 km

• Characteristics of Chiropterophilous flowers 

• Chiropterophilous flowers are dull - coloured with strong fermenting or fruity odour , abundant nectar and pollen grains . 
• Chiropterophilous flowers secrete even more abundant nectar than the ornithophilous flowers . 
• Pollen grains are also produced in more abundance . 
• Baobab Tree ( Adansonia ) has 1500-2000 stamens per flower . 
• The flowers are large and stout . Common examples of chiropterophilous plants are Kigelia pinnata ( Sausage Tree ) . Adansonia ( Baobab Tree ) , Anthocephalus ( Kadam Tree ) and Bauhinia megalandra . 

MALACOPHILY

• Malacophily ( Gk , malakos , soft , philein- to love ) 
• Snails perform pollination in Arisaema ( Snake or Cobra Plant ) and some arum lilies . 

ANTHOPHILY

• Artificial Pollination ( Anthophily ) 
• In all breeding programmes , the plants are hand pollinated to ensure cross pollination between selected varieties . 
• Date Palm has been under artificial pollination since times immemorial .

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Manish Mevada

M.Sc, M.Phil, B.Ed

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