Botany: A new self-pollination mechanism

Pollen grains from most flowering plants are transported by wind or animals and deposited on the receptive surface of the stigma of a different individual, but self-pollination is also common. We have discovered a new process for self-pollination in the laterally orientated flowers of a Chinese herb, in which a film of pollen is transported from the anther (pollen sacs) by an oily emulsion that slides sideways along the flower's style and into the individual's own stigma.

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