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PROTEROGYNOUS and PROTOGYNOUS

(from proteros, sooner, and gyne, a female).

Terms used, by Delpino and by Hildebrand respectively, to denote a hermaphrodite flower in which the stigma is ready to receive pollen before that in the same flower is ripe. In Proterogynous flowers, the stigma is pollinated from an older flower, and may be withered, or may have fallen off, before the anthers in its own flower have burst to shed the pollen. Proterogyny is not frequent. The common Pellitory (Parietaria officinalis) affords an example.