1. the condition or state of being dioecious; the occurrence of male and female reproductive organs in separate individual organisms of the same species.
Usage: biology; botany

Examples

• Dioecy is common in many plant species, where some individuals produce only flowers with stamens and others produce only flowers with pistils.
• The dioecy of ginkgo trees means that only the male trees are typically planted in urban areas to avoid the foul-smelling fruit.
• In animals, dioecy is the standard reproductive system, with males and females being separate organisms.
• Researchers study dioecy to understand how species maintain genetic diversity through sexual reproduction.
• The evolution of dioecy from hermaphroditic ancestors is a topic of ongoing botanical research.