Dioecious: Having male and female reproductive organs in separate individual plants.
Think of dioecious plants as having distinct genders. Just like humans, there are male plants and female plants. A male plant will only produce pollen, while a female plant will produce the fruit (after pollination). This means you need both a male and a female plant to get fruit, if that’s what you’re after.
In your home garden, knowing if a plant is dioecious is essential for certain species. For example, if you want to grow pumpkins, you’ll need both a male and a female plant to get pumpkins. Some other examples of dioecious plants include holly and ginkgo trees. So, if you’re not getting fruit from a plant you expect to, you might only have one “gender” of that plant.
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