Complete absence of all microbial life, including transmissible agents (e.g., fungi, bacteria, viruses, spore forms) on a surface, contained in a fluid, in medication, or in a compound, such as biological culture medium.
(Used of sexual parts, such as anthers) barren, not functional;
(Of botanical specimens) lacking flowers and fruits.
A product that contains no microorganisms.
Incapable of producing its kind.
Without reproductive spores; the opposite of fertile.
Not producing fertile seeds or pollen. A sterile plant has few, shrivelled pollen grains and under-developed fruits. Compare anthers (x20) from a likely sterile hybrid to anthers from another, fertile plant from the same genus. A sterile hybrid anther will not appear well filled with pollen as so many of the grains are shrunken. Under-developed fruits will feel hollow when squeezed.
Aseptic or free from all living microorganisms and their spores.
With no harmful microorganisms present.
Not able to produce children.
Incapable of bearing seeds or pollen or both (flowers) or spores (the fronds of ferns). A plant may produce perfectly normal flowers but not mature fertile seed due to some aberration in its genetic make up, something which often occurs in hybrids; or the reproductive parts of the flower may have been transformed into the extra petals of a double flower.
Free from living microorganisms, i.e., of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, spores, viruses, and other living organisms. No agent, device, drug, or fluid should be placed inside the body in clinical medicine if it is not sterile.