Question

Cleistogamous flowers are invariably autogenous as there is no chance of cross pollen landing on the stigma. Justify the statement

Answer 1

Cleistogamous flowers are those that do not open at all and only autogamy occurs. This is because there is no possibility of cross pollination since these flowers do not open at all and pollen from other plants cannot land on the stigma of these flowers. In these flowers, anther and stigma lies close to each other with in the closed flower. So when pollens exit the anther,it directly comes into contact with stigma ( autogamy). Closed flower makes sure that none of the pollens go out and none come in making the flower rely exclusively on autogamy.