Reproductive systems in plants - Dioecy and Monoecy

There are mainly 2 types of reproductive systems in Plants.

Dioecy

Dioecy is a reproductive system where individual plants are either male or female, meaning they produce only male or only female flowers. An example of a dioecious species is the kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa).

• Kiwifruit plants are either male or female, and both types of plants are required for cross-pollination and fruit production.
• Papaya (Carica papaya): Papaya trees are dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. Female papaya trees produce the fruit, while male trees produce pollen. Some papaya are gynodioecious meaning male and female flowers exist on same plant.
• Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis): Asparagus is another example of a dioecious plant. Female asparagus plants produce berries, while male asparagus plants do not. The edible part of the asparagus plant is the young shoot that emerges from the ground.

Monoecy

Monoecy is a reproductive system where individual plants have both male and female flowers on the same plant.

• An example of a monoecious plant is corn (Zea mays). Corn plants have both tassel-bearing male flowers at the top and ear-bearing female flowers lower on the plant. While corn is monoecious, it still relies on wind or pollen transfer to achieve pollination between different flowers on the same plant.
• The luffa plant (Luffa spp.), commonly known as sponge gourd or loofah, is also an example of a monoecious plant.
• Ridged gourd is also an example of Monoecy.