Thymus vulgaris

Reproduction

How does Thymus vulgaris reproduce?

To figure out thyme's life cycle, you need to know how it is classified. Thymus vulgaris is a plant; all plants have alternation of generations. This means there is a multicellular diploid and haploid. It is also an angiosperm. The life cycle of flowering plant is a shown below.


This is a drawing of the angiosperm cycle. Used with permission from http://www.clker.com/clipart-49454.htmlAngiosperms like other vascular plants have a dominant sporophyte lifecycle. The cycle starts when microspores divide by mitosis to form pollen, which is housed in the anthers. The macrospore in the ovule will become the seed. A pollinator comes along and picks up pollen from that flower, and if carried to a flower of the same species, will pollinate that flower. When a flower is fertilized, pollen travels throughout the pollen tube to fertilize the ovule. This process must happen twice in order make a seed. After the double fertilization, the zygote and endosperm develop. The endosperm is the food source for the seed. When conditions are right, the seed will germinate. After germination, the seed will grow into a mature sporophyte and repeat the cycle

 

 

 

 


Thyme vulgaris can be a hermaphrodite, male and female, or diecious, male or female. This sounds strange to us, but hermaphrodites are common in many plant and invertebrates species. While I was researching an anomaly came up, Thymus vulgaris tends to be female or hermaphroditic. Why would there not be male plants? In some cases, they are completely absent and if present, sterility is a problem. No one is really sure why. The females can produce seeds to colonize new areas; they may be favored.  But if this is the case, hermaphrodites can produce seeds as well. Why would they not be favored? For female plants to coexist with hermaphrodite, they must produce more seeds. This balance in this gynodioecy, a community of female and hermaphrodite plants coexisting, is still a mystery to scientists today.

How thyme fits into its habitat?

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