Distyly

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/distyly

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is distyly in flowers?Distyly is when a plant has two kinds of flowers that look different in their reproductive parts, like having different leg lengths.
2. Why do some flowers have pin and thrum shapes?Pin flowers have long pistils and short stamens, while thrum flowers have short pistils and long stamens, so bees can move pollen between them.

Heterostyly: A genetic system in plants where individuals of a species have flowers with different arrangements of stamens and pistils.
Floral polymorphism: The occurrence of two or more distinct forms of flowers within the same plant species.
Inbreeding depression: The reduced biological fitness of a population resulting from inbreeding.