pollen

«pollen» in Mova's school dictionary: a fine yellow powder made by flowers — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (pollen — uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) Pollen is a fine yellow powder made by flowers. tree →

2) It must be carried from one flower to another, by insects or the wind, so the plant can make seeds. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science pollen is key to pollination: bees, butterflies and the wind carry pollen from the stamen of one flower to the stigma of another, and then seeds and fruit can grow. In everyday life pollen in the air can cause hay fever, with sneezing and itchy eyes, especially in spring and summer; weather reports give a «pollen count». Bees collect pollen as food and carry it on their legs.

examples

• Bees carry pollen from flower to flower. tree →
• The lily left yellow pollen on my nose. tree →
• A high pollen count makes my hay fever worse. tree →
• Wind blows pollen from grasses and trees. tree →
• Without pollen, plants could not make seeds. tree →
• The bee's legs were covered in pollen. tree →
• Pollen is made in the stamens of a flower. tree →
• If you do this the pollen will cause your fur to grow again, and you will be quite well in a little while.” tree →

note

Uncountable: «some pollen», not «a pollen» or «pollens» (scientists sometimes say «pollen grains»). Spelt with double l and -en. Pollen is not the same as nectar: nectar is the sweet liquid bees drink; pollen is the powder. «Pollinate» = carry pollen to a flower.

In the corpora

• Bumblebees can buzz at a special pitch that shakes pollen out of tomato flowers, and farmers use them in greenhouses.
• Some lemurs drink nectar and carry pollen on their faces from flower to flower, pollinating plants as bees do.
• Bees collect nectar and pollen from flowers; nectar is turned into honey and pollen feeds the young bees.
• Lilies are very poisonous to cats; even pollen licked off their fur can damage the kidneys.
• Lorikeets have brush-tipped tongues for licking nectar and pollen from flowers, and they are noisy visitors to gardens in eastern Australia.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «pollen» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.