PARTHENOGENESIS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Parthenogenesis

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noun

parthenogenesis n.

(Biol.) The production of new individuals from virgin females by means of ova which have the power of developing without the intervention of the male element; the production, without fertilization, of cells capable of germination. It is one of the phenomena of alternate generation. Cf. Heterogamy, and Metagenesis.

(Bot.) The production of seed without fertilization, believed to occur through the nonsexual formation of an embryo extraneous to the embryonic vesicle.

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Etymology of 'Parthenogenesis'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Parthenogenesis" Quotes from Famous Books

... propagation by buds, though perfect in some of the lowest forms of life, becomes evanescent in others; and even the most absolute law we know in the physiology of genuine reproduction—that of sexual cooperation—has its exceptions in both kingdoms in parthenogenesis, to which in the vegetable kingdom a most curious and intimate series of gradations leads. In plants, likewise, a long and finely graduated series of transitions leads from bisexual to unisexual blossoms; and so in various other respects. Everywhere we may perceive ...

— Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays • Thomas H. Huxley

... assemble in the sexual secretions, and by their union build up the embryo, each particle taking its due place, and occupying in the offspring a similar position to that which it occupied in the parents. In 1849 Professor Owen, in his treatise on "Parthenogenesis," put forward another conception. According to this, the cells resulting from the subdivision of the germ-cell preserve their developmental force, unless employed in building up definite organic structures. In certain creatures, and in certain parts of other creatures, germ-cells unused are stored ...

— On the Genesis of Species • St. George Mivart

... of silence followed these revelations; but soon a German clergyman, Dzierzon, discovered parthenogenesis, i. e. the virginal parturition of queens, and contrived the first hive with movable combs, thereby enabling the bee-keeper henceforth to take his share of the harvest of honey, without being forced to destroy his best colonies and in one instant annihilate the work of an entire year. This ...

— The Life of the Bee • Maurice Maeterlinck

... nuts it seemed to me we were probably dealing with parthenogenesis. In order to make sure that no pollen had been carried in by any sort of insect, I made check experiments last year, covering pistillate flowers so carefully that there could be no question about their having received no pollen. It was found that the chinkapin would develop nuts freely in ...

— Northern Nut Growers Association, Report of the Proceedings at the Fourth Annual Meeting - Washington D.C. November 18 and 19, 1913 • Various

... fetiches. I bought a microscope and peered into tissues, pollen cells, diatoms, ditch ooze; and pitied my clever and very talented grandmother who died ignorant of the family secrets revealed by 'totemism', ignorant of 'parthenogenesis' which proved so conclusively the truth of her own firm conviction, that the faults she deplored in her son's children were all inherited directly from her daughter-in-law, whom she detested; ignorant of the fact ...

— At the Mercy of Tiberius • August Evans Wilson

Words linked to "Parthenogenesis" : parthenogeny, androgeny, asexual reproduction, parthenogenetic