Pollination is a necessary step in the sexual reproduction of flowering plants, resulting in the production of offspring that are genetically diverse. It is important in horticulture and agriculture, because fruiting is dependent on fertilisation, which is the end result of pollination.

Types

The process of pollination requires pollinators: agents that carry or move the pollen grains from the anther to the receptive part of the carpel or pistil. The receptive part of the carpel is called a stigma in the flowers of angiosperms. The receptive part of the gymnosperm ovule is called the micropyle. The various flower traits that attract different pollinators are known as pollination syndromes. Methods of pollination, with common pollinators or plants, are:

Biotic pollination, occurs when pollination is mediated by an organism, termed a pollinator. There are roughly 200,000 varieties of animal pollinators in the wild, most of which are insects.US Forest Department: Pollinator Factsheet Entomophily, pollination by insects, often occurs on plants that have developed blue petals and a strong scent to attract insects such as, bees, wasps and occasionally ants (Hymenoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera), and flies (Diptera). In Zoophily, pollination is done by vertebrates such as birds and bats, particularly, hummingbirds, sunbirds, spiderhunters, honeyeaters, and fruit Bats. Plants adapted to this strategy tend to develop red petals to attract birds and rarely develop a scent because few birds have a sense of smell.

Abiotic pollination occurs when pollination is mediated without the involvement of other organisms. Only 10% of flowering plants are able to pollinate without animal assistance. For example, anemophily is pollination by wind. This form of pollination is very common in grasses, most conifers, and many deciduous trees. Hydrophily is pollination by water and occurs in aquatic plants which release their seeds directly into the surrounding water. About 80% of all plant pollination is biotic. Of the 20% of abiotically pollinated species, 98% is by wind and 2% by water.

In agriculture

main: List of crop plants pollinated by bees

Pollination management is a branch of agriculture that seeks to protect and enhance present pollinators and often involves the culture and addition of pollinators in monoculture situations, such as commercial fruit orchards. The largest managed pollination event in the world is in Californian almond orchards, where nearly half (about one million hives) of the US honey bees are trucked to the almond orchards each spring. New York's apple crop requires about 30,000 hives; Maine's blueberry crop uses about 50,000 hives each year.