POLLINATION OF PHANEROGAMS Insects and wind are the chief agents of cross-pollination in flowering plants. Other pollinating agents that are effective in a far smaller number of species include water and humming-birds. There are probably ten times as many entomophilous (insect-pollinated) as anemophilous (wind-pollinated) species of flowering plants in the world as a whole.
The characteristics of wind-borne pollen become clear when contrasted with insect-borne pollen (Table IV). There are many exceptions to the generalizations in this table and, in particular, some plants make the best of both methods. Both anemophilous and entomophilous plants often protect their pollen from the rain, and many store it within the flower for some time after shedding from the anthers. Anemophilous pollen is not generally shed into very calm or very damp air.