Question

Give the adaptations for pollination in anemophilous and hydrophilous flowers.
Add a note on the advantages and disadvantages of cross-pollination.

Answer 1

Hint: Anemophily is nothing but wind pollination, where the pollen is distributed by wind, and in almost all gymnosperms, pollination is by anemophily, and some of the common examples of the anemophilous plants are okas, sweet chestnuts, etc. And hydrophilic is a rare type of pollination that occurs by water.

Complete answer:
-Adaptations for pollination in Anemophilous flowers.
In these plants generally, flowers are arranged in a numerous manner and are small in size.
Where these flowers do not have any nectar, and it is absent.
The flowers lack their colors and the petals all are reduced either too small or high.
In these plants, male flowers are present more in number than the female flowers, which are too situated at a high level.
In these flowers generally, anthers are versatile, where the filaments are long and pollen grains are smooth, they are dry and also very light in weight which is an adaptation for the wind pollination.
-Adaptations for hydrophilus flowers.
In this type, flowers are small and inconspicuous and these flowers are also present without bright colors and fragrance and they also lack the nectar.
The parts of the flower and pollen grains are generally unwettable in these flowers.
In the plants, the female flowers or they may be floating where the pollen grains have Specific gravity which is equal to or little more than that of water.
-Cross-pollination.
-Advantages: Because of cross-pollination, new characters can be introduced.
Because of this cross-pollination, some healthy and harmful characters can be eliminated.
-Disadvantages: where the cross-pollination does not always happen, where the good characters can be less and this less economical, sometimes undesired characters can be observed.

Note: Anemophily is a type of wind pollination and the hydrophily is a type of wind pollination, where pollination occurs by water and it is of two types, it may occur on the surface of the water and sometimes it may occur beneath the water, and the cross-pollination is pollination of flowers of different plants.