Cannabis is am anemophilous species; this is a fancy way of saying wind pollinated. Under natural or wild conditions, male plants undergo dehiscence (shedding of pollen) and disperse vast quantities of pollen into the wind. The pollen travels on air currents and, by chance, lands on the stigma or style of a nearby, or not so nearby, pistillate individual. This is the pollination event. Because pollen from many species floats in the air, and there is significant chance that pollen from other species will land on a fertile stigma of a waiting female plant, cannabis has evolved recognition systems that insure only species-specific pollen is able to germinate on the style and thus fertilize the female’s ovules. This is physical and biochemical recognition between the pollen grain and the stigma surface: together, these insure species identity.
If the biochemical signal is correct and the stigma recognizes the pollen grain as cannabis the pollen grain is hydrated by a flow of water from the pistil, and it germinates. Just as a seed germinates and sends a taproot into the soil, the pollen grain germinates and sends a pollen tube into the stigma and borrows towards the ovule. Once the tube reaches the ovary, the genetic material carried within pollen is delivered to the ovule, were it is united with the genetic material from the pistillate plant. This fertilization even occurs and creates what is to become an embryo. This embryo grows within a seed coat, and when fully mature in four to five weeks, can be planted and will blossom into a new generation of life.
If the biochemical signal is correct and the stigma recognizes the pollen grain as cannabis the pollen grain is hydrated by a flow of water from the pistil, and it germinates. Just as a seed germinates and sends a taproot into the soil, the pollen grain germinates and sends a pollen tube into the stigma and borrows towards the ovule. Once the tube reaches the ovary, the genetic material carried within pollen is delivered to the ovule, were it is united with the genetic material from the pistillate plant. This fertilization even occurs and creates what is to become an embryo. This embryo grows within a seed coat, and when fully mature in four to five weeks, can be planted and will blossom into a new generation of life.
