Protogyny
Scrophularia species
The stigma is ready for pollination earlier than the anthers are open (protogyny). The flower is slightly bell-shaped. A) In the female phase, the anthers are bent back, and the receptive stigma occupies a position in the mouth of the flower. The fifth stamen forms a staminode in the upper part of the flower; its function in pollination remains obscure. The female phase lasts c. 2 days. B) In the male phase, the outermost part of the style has bent slightly, and the stigma is more out-of-the-way. The filaments of the anthers have unbent and are stretched out. The anthers are exposed at the mouth of the blossom. Scrophularia is frequently visited by wasps.
