self-ˈfertile, a. Bot.
[self- 3 b.]
Of a flower: Having the property of fertilizing itself by the action of its pollen on its pistil. Of a plant: Fertilized by the pollen of its own flowers alone. Also applied to hermaphrodite animals. So self-ferˈtility, self-ˈfertilizable a., -fertiliˈzation, -ˈfertilize v., -ˈfertilized ppl. a., -ˈfertilizer, a self-fertilizing plant, -ˈfertilizing ppl. a.
| 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. iv. 98 The contrivance seems adapted solely to ensure self-fertilisation. |
| Ibid. 100 Of aquatic animals, there are many self-fertilising hermaphrodites. |
| 1865 ― in Life & Lett. (1887) III. 276, I conjectured that the Spider and Bee-orchids might be a crossing and self-fertile form of the same species. |
| 1871 A. W. Bennett in Jrnl. Linn. Soc., Bot. XIII. 149 It is very commonly the case in closed self-fertilized flowers for the pollen-tubes to penetrate the substance of the anther itself. |
| 1877 A. Gray in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. Ser. iii. XIII. 135 Many..flowers which are frequented by insects are none the less self-fertilizable. |
| Ibid. 126 The flowers of this species self-fertilize, but must also be habitually cross-fertilized. |
| 1879 G. Henslow in Pop. Sci. Rev. XVIII. 8 Scrophulariaceæ furnishes several self-fertilisers. |
| 1917 Genetics II. 525 That some of his families arising from selfed seed behaved exactly as the families arising from crossed seed shows that he is often (at least) dealing with a pseudo self-fertility. 1924 Ibid. IX. 16 The self⁓fertile plants differed among themselves in the expression of their self-fertility. 1956 Nature 10 Mar. 490/1 On hybridization, spontaneous self-fertility was restored. 1970 Bot. Gaz. CXXXI. 139/2 Species were rated for self-fertility by their ability to set seed under isolated conditions. |