Biology
Flowers & pollination
How a flower becomes a fruit with seeds through pollination, and how new plants grow from it.
What you need first
A whole apple tree can grow from a tiny apple seed. But how does the plant get its seeds in the first place? The answer lies in the flower. It is the plant's reproductive organ, and this is where every new plant life begins.
The flower as a reproductive organ
A flower holds two parts needed for reproduction. The stamens form fine pollen grains. The pistil in the middle carries a sticky stigma at the top and the ovules below, each holding one egg cell. A ovule later becomes a seed. For that to happen, pollen must first reach the stigma, often from another flower.
Pollination by bee and wind
Moving pollen from one flower to the next is called pollination. Insects like bees often do this: they collect sweet nectar and carry pollen along the way. In other plants the wind does the work and blows the pollen away.
From fruit to seed to new plant
After pollination, the pollen grain on the stigma sends out a fine tube that grows down through the pistil to the ovule. When a cell from the pollen fuses with the egg cell there, the flower is fertilized. The ovule now becomes a seed, and the flower turns into a fruit that encloses the seeds. The seed is spread, for example by animals or wind. If it lands on good soil, it germinates and a new plant grows.
Exercises
0 of 6 solvedTime to try it yourself. You can't break anything, every attempt counts.
Which part of the plant is responsible for reproduction?
Who carries the pollen from flower to flower in many plants?
The memory chain goes: flower, pollination, fruit with seeds, new plant. How many steps does it have?
Put the steps of reproduction from the flower to the new plant in the correct order.
- 1a pollen cell fuses with the egg cell
- 2pollen reaches the stigma through pollination
- 3the seed germinates and a new plant grows
- 4the ovule becomes a seed
- 5a pollen tube grows down to the ovule
The text names insects and the wind as carriers of pollen. How many ways of pollination is that?
Moving pollen from one flower to the next is called ….
Where this leads