Heterothallism

Okay, imagine you have a garden with different kinds of plants. Some of these plants are boys and some are girls. Just like people, right? And just like people, in order for the plants to have babies, they need to get together with another plant.

Heterothallism is when the boy plants and the girl plants are not able to make babies together without the help of a third plant. This third plant is kind of like a matchmaker. It helps the boy and girl plants get together so they can make babies.

So, in heterothallic plants, there are two different types of sex cells, and they can only make babies with the opposite type of sex cell. This is kind of like how boys only make babies with girls, and girls only make babies with boys.

Some plants, like mushrooms, are heterothallic. They have male and female spores, but they need to find another mushroom with the opposite type of spore in order to make babies.

Overall, heterothallism means that some plants need a little help from a third party to make babies, just like how some people might need a matchmaker to help them find love.