what went wrong with the “seedless clementines” that still have the occasional seed?

477 views

what went wrong with the “seedless clementines” that still have the occasional seed?

In: Biology

Anonymous 0 Comments

A lot of plants are self-incompatible. This is a genetic trait where they can not pollinate themselves. If they get pollen with the exact same genes as them they will not develop seeds. Clementines are self-incompatible and growers will make sure to graft every plant which ensures every tree in the orchard is clones of each other. They will therefore not be able to pollinate any other tree in the orchard and the clementines will grow without seeds. However sometimes pollen from other citrus fruits are able to sneak into the orchard. Either from a bee or other insect or blown by the wind. When this happens it can pollinate the clementine trees and they will develop seeds. Growers do try their best to avoid cross pollination from other citrus trees and are pretty successful but the occasional accident does happen.