At 2:00 PM -0500 12/5/00, KONING,ROSS E. (Biology) wrote:
>The ovule falls from the tree. The bruised fleshy integument
>layer (the aril) will start making butyric acid. The pollen
>tube finishes its pathway through the nucellus to the
>egg. The sperm cell swims through the last bit of digested
>fluid and the egg engulfs it. This is the SYNGAMY event.
>It happens while the ovule is on the ground in the fall.
>From your explanation and my prior understanding it seems like the fall of
the ovule from the tree and the completion of syngamy are timed to
coincide. Is this true and is there a mechanistic explanation?
Scott Shumway
Associate Professor of Biology
Dept. of Biology
Wheaton College
Norton, MA 02766
508-286-3945
"Scott_Shumway at WheatonMa.edu"
fax 508-285-8278
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