Describing plants that have flowers with styles of different lengths, usually on different plants of the same species.
From Greek 'hetero-' (different), 'stylos' (style), and Latin '-ous' (full of, having). Established in botanical Latin during the Victorian era of plant classification.
If a plant is heterostylous, its individual flowers are locked in an inter-plant compatibility system—a flower with a long style can only successfully cross-pollinate with flowers that have short styles. It's basically nature's 'incompatibility app' for plants.
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