Is the Hermaphrodite Flowering Plant Equisexual?

The view that, as individuals or genotypes, outcrossing hermaphrodite flowering plants are necessarily equally effective male and female parents, is challenged. The dissimilar selection pressures to which their male and female gametophytes are subjected make this generality unlikely. The breeding population rather than the individual is seen as the level at which the 1:1 ratio between male and female gametes obtains, and phenomena indicative of this situation are discussed. To stabilize hermaphroditism at the norm of equisexuality, special devices which minimize the divergence between male and female gametophytic selection may be needed. Complementary stamen and pistil characters in interbreeding morphs of heterostylous plants are seen as such devices.