SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DISTINGUISHING FERTILE PLANT SPECIMENS FROM STERILE PLANT SPECIMENS

Analyzing reflections and/or emissions of electromagnetic radiation to distinguish fertile plant specimens from sterile plant specimens. In an aspect, the presence of wavelengths associated with pollen in the electromagnetic radiation reflections and/or emissions indicates a plant specimen is fertile, and the absence of wavelengths associated with pollen in the reflections and/or emissions indicates a plant specimen is sterile. In other aspects, spectral signature differences in the reflections and/or emissions that are indicative of other properties besides pollen (e.g., petal color, etc.) are utilized to distinguish between fertile and sterile plant specimens.