Hmmmm this is the 2nd time I've tried to post a quiz question. I have no idea what happened to the one I posted yesterday.......argh... ok here goes! Holly plants are dioecious, what does this mean?
Spoiler Dioecious literally means 'two houses.' Dioecious holly trees produce either male or female flowers but never both on the same trees. The female plant bears fruit but only if a male is present for pollination. The European holly, Ilex aquifolium is one such tree species. Both male and female holly plants have white flowers, but they are very different in terms of their sexual structure. The male plant has flowers with stamens, the male structures, which produce pollen, and small, sterile female stigma. The female plant has normal stigma and small, sterile stamens which cannot produce any pollen. They make use of the wind to carry pollen from the male to the female organs, cross-pollination occurs freely, provided there is a female tree nearby to receive the pollen.
Spoiler The female resides in the front yard just in front of a PJM Rhododendron. She has loads of red berries this time of season and will be very popular with several bird species later in the winter and early spring. The male sits on the side of the house about 25 feet away and while he could reside farther away, the proximity to the female has positive results. Herein lies the answer to todays question. Holly (Ilex) has male and female bushes. For good results the female needs a male within a bee flight distance as they can not self propagate. Jerry
Hmmm. I have no idea, but I have a holly bush by my front porch, and one out under the power lines. Mine get yellow flowers??? I think the yellow flowers means they are male bushes, but dont know. I wouldnt mind moving it to a new location, but I think it is too old to move. :-?
Holly plants are dioecious, which means 'two houses'. Essentially this means there are boy hollies and girl hollies. The girl holly will not bear the beautiful red berries unless there is a boy holly within a reasonable distance that can provide pollen. Other plants are monoecious, 'one house', ie. corn, in which both the female and male reproductive parts are on the same plant.
