Column (botany) the Orchidaceae family, unlike almost all other flowering plants, the single male anther at the tip of the "column" produces pollen that is not free and powdery but held in waxy masses of two, four or six pellets called pollinia. The transfer of "pollinia" from one flower to another, though highly efficient, is often reliant upon one particular species of arthropods and it can be catastrophic for the population if its pollinator disappears from the community. Column (botany) The column, or technically the gynostemium, is a reproductive structure that can be found in several plant families: Aristolochiaceae, Orchidaceae, and Stylidiaceae.
Dehiscence (botany) Dehiscence (botany) Dehiscence is the splitting along a built-in line of weakness in a plant structure in order to release its contents, and is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that open in this way are said to be dehiscent. Structures that do not open in this way are called indehiscent, and rely on other mechanisms such as decay or predation to release the contents. A similar process to dehiscence occurs in some flower buds (e.g., "Platycodon", "Fuchsia"), but this is rarely referred to as dehiscence unless circumscissile dehiscence is