Try this investigation
  • During Winter and Spring, look for a population of Sorrel plants in flower. Collect flowers from a number of different clumps.
  • Open up the flowers and look at the arrangement of male and female parts inside. You should find similar numbers of three different arrangements of stamens and pistils (see diagram).
  • When a bee visits a flower with a short style, it will collect pollen from medium and long stamens. If it visits another flower of the same clone, the pollen will not reach the stigma and self-pollination will be avoided. Look at the other flowers and see how this mechanism works in the other cases.