Monoecious and Dioecious Plants

What do you understand about Monoecious and Dioecious Plants?. This is a basic plants reproduction system in most plants for us to study in plants morphology. The Plant reproductive morphology is concerned with the physical form and structure (themorphology) of those parts of plants directly or indirectly concerned with sexual reproduction. Among all living organisms, flowers, which are the reproductive structures of angiosperms, are the most varied physically and show a correspondingly great diversity in methods of reproduction. Plants that are not flowering plants (green algae, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, ferns and gymnosperms such as conifers) also have complex interplays between morphological adaptation and environmental factors in their sexual reproduction. The breeding system, or how the sperm from one plant fertilizes the ovum of another, depends on the reproductive morphology, and is the single most important determinant of the genetic structure of non clonal plant populations. The reproduction of flowering plants and for the first time it was understood that the pollination process involved both biotic and abiotic interactions. Charles Darwin's theories of natural selection utilized this work to build his theory of evolution, which includes analysis of the coevolution of flowers and their insect pollinators. This article I like to share my knowledge in "Anim Agriculture Technology" about Monoecious and Dioecious plants.

Most plant have bisexual flowers with functional male and female flowers. Some are self sterile, requiring pollination from another plant to produce seed. Dioecious Plants have male (staminate) flowers on one plant, and female (pistillate) flowers on another plant. Some of these plants are polygamo-dioecious, with some male flowers on female plants and some female flowers on male plants. Ilex or Hollies are Dioecious, and a male plant should be planted
with several female plants for good fruit production. From various sources, I notice some of the dioecious plantas are such as Acer (some species, like Acer negundo - Box Elder), Actinidia (Kiwi Fruit Vine), Ailanthus (Tree of Heaven), Aucuba (Non Hardy Dogwood Family plant),  Araucaria (Indoor Norfolk Island Pine), Broussonetia (Paper Mulberry), Celastrus (Bittersweet Vine), Cephalotaxus (Plum Yew), Cercidiphyllum (Kadsura Tree), Chionanthus (Fringe Tree), Cotinus (Smoke Tree), Comptonia (in Bayberry Family), Diospyros (Persimmon), Eucommia (Hardy Rubber Tree), Fraxinus (Ash Trees) and Ginkgo.

Other Dioecious Plants recorded such as Gleditsia (Honey Locust or Polygamo-dioecious), Hippophae (Sea Buckthorn), Ilex (Holly), Juniperus (Juniper), Lindera (Spicebush or  Dioecious to polygamo-dioecious), Maclura (Osage Orange), Morus (Mulberry), Myrica (Bayberry), Nemopanthus (Mountain Holly, Phellodendron (Amur Cork Tree), Podocarpus, Populus (Poplar or Aspen), Salix (Willow), Shepherdia (Buffalo Berry), Taxus (Yew), Torreya (Nutmeg Yew) and also Zanthoxylum (Prickly Ash).

Monoecious Plants have separate male and female flowers on the same plant.  Quercus or Oaks are Monoecious plants. Many plants are Monoecious, but a much smaller number  of plants are Dioecious. From many sources I found that below are some monoecious plants. There are such as Abies (Fir), Alnus (Alder), Betula (Birch), Carpinus (Hornbeam and Ironwood), Castanea (Chestnut), Carya (Hickory), Cedrus (Cedar), Chamaecyparis(False Cypress), Corylus (Hazelnut), Cryptomeria, Cunninghamia, Cupressus (Cypress), Fagus (Beech), Ficus (Fig) and last in the lists are Juglans (Walnut). Other are Keteleeria, Larix (Larch), Ostrya (Hop Hornbeam), Picea (Spruce), Pinus (Pine), Platanus (Sycamore or Plane Tree), Pseudolarix (Golden Larch), Pseudotsuga (Douglas Fir), Quercus (Oak), Sciadopitys (Umbrella Pine), Sequoia (Coastal Redwood), also the Sequoiadendrom (Giant Redwood), Taxodium (Bald Cypress) and Thuja (Arborvitae). Those plants are found all all over countries where some plants are domesticated for human consumptions.

By,
M Anem
Senior Agronomists
Jalan Istana,
Bandar Melaka, Melaka,
Malaysia
(5 Syaaban 1434H)