Reproduction in Plants

 

Picture source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus

Plants are living things, which means they must reproduce to continue their population. 

The first step in this process is pollination, which we will learn about here.

Agents of Pollination:

To pollinate, plants need certain animals to help. These animals are called the agents of pollination, for example, Bees, Wasps, Bats, Butterflies, Hummingbirds and even male mosquitos. 

Pollination:

These animals suck nectar from these flowers for food, when they do this, pollen which is in the flower gets stuck on their bodies. 

When they leave and start sucking nectar from another flower of the same species, the pollen gets stuck on the stamen of the flower.

Fertilization:

The pollen starts penetrating through the stamen creating a tube called the pollen tube. 

After the pollen tube enters the ovary, it sends a male nucleus through the pollen tube to combine with the female nucleus in the ovary. 

Once the male nucleus enters the ovary and combines with the female nucleus it creates the egg. 

After this the flower becomes a fruit with the egg becoming the seed of the fruit, When the fruit falls on the ground the seed grows into a new plant.

Picture source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mature_flower_diagram.svg