ABSTRACT
Some background in botany is important to IP in order to understand the effect of potential contamination during the growing season by crosspollination. This discussion will be on a non-technical level as much as possible, as most people dealing with IP are not botanists, biologists, geneticists, or plant breeders. This discussion will also look only at the major crops considered in IP production. This background will affect how and where a grower plants his IP crop in relationship to other crops of his own and his neighbors. Understanding the mechanisms of crop pollination will give basis to these planting decisions. The flower is the reproductive organ or combination of organs in a plant. Depending upon the plant species, a flower can contain male, female, or both structures within the flower structure. The anther, borne by the filament, produces pollen that can fertilize the ovules within the ovary. Pollination takes place when the pollen lands on the stigma and works its way down the ovary, where fertilization of the ovules occurs. Depending
This section provides background basic to the field production of crops as related to crop pollination. The pollination method or flower type for each crop bears on decisions which will need to be made on how and where the crop is planted. The potential for contamination is affected by the isolation or distance that the IP crop is planted from surrounding crops based on these crop differences.
