When you look at a flower you probably just notice the pretty colours and the smell. However, what’s inside the flower is extremely important to life.
Lets look at the structure of a plant. There are a few parts you need to understand.
Petals - colourful parts of the plant designed to attract insects
Sepals - Specialised leaves which protect the unopened buds.
When it comes to reproduction, plants have both male and female parts.
We can break the male and female parts into two parts. The Stamen (male) and Carpel (female).
The stamen contains the
Anther - Produces pollen (male gamete)
Filament - holds up the anther.
Carpel is the female parts. It contains the
Stigma - Catches grains of pollen
Style - Holds up the stigma
Ovary - contains ovules, female gametes
Quick Questions
1. What are the male parts of the flower
2. What are the female parts of the flower
3. What part of the flower protects the unopened bud
How are new plants created?
Just like people the female gamete (ovules) needs to be fertilised by the male gamete (pollen).
When another plants pollen meets a different ovule, the plant is fertilised. This is called pollination.
Pollination can occur between different plants of between the same plant (self-pollination).
Pollination happens by strong winds or by insects.
Quick Questions
1. What is pollination?
2. What is the female gamete and the male gamete called in flowers?
3. What are two methods of pollination in flowers?
Plants who are pollinated by insects and those pollinated by wind have evolved different characteristics.
Plants who are pollinated by plants are
Brightly coloured and sweet smelling
Often contain nectar and sugary fluid
Small amounts of pollen
Pollen is sticky
Stigma and anthers are held firmly
Stigma has a sticky coating
When insects visit the flowers, pollen gets stuck to them. When they move to other flowers the pollen from the first flower rubs off on to the stigma of the other flower.
Plants who are pollinated by wind:
Are brown or dull green
Have No nectar
Produce pollen in large quantities
Loosely attaches anthers and dangle out of the flower
Stigma hangs outside the flower
The pollen from one flower is blown by the wind and can land on the stigma of another plant’s flower
Quick Questions
1. What are 3 ways plants have evolved to attract insects
2. What are 3 differences between plants who are helped by the wind, compared to plants helped by insects.
3. Explain how insects help plants pollinate
Try and correctly label the diagram bellow, then take a screen shot
Questions
Short Answer Questions
1. Name at least 4 organisms which help pollinate flower
2. Fill in the table bellow
3. Pollination can occur in a number of ways.
a. Describe what pollination is
b. Describe the differences between cross-pollination and self-pollination
4. Explain in details the difference in structure between an insect-pollinated plant and a wind-pollinated plant.
5. Create a ven-diagram comparing human reproduction to plant reproduction
