| 1.
Flowering plants grow from seeds. Seeds contain a tiny embryo plant, together with stored
food reserves. The seed is surrounded by a tough coat which protects it. In Britain, seeds
vary in size from the size of a grain of salt (Heather, Foxglove) to a large marble (Horse
Chestnut). The bigger the seed, the more food reserves it contains. |
|
|
. |
(Left) Some plants use insects, such as
this fly, to transfer the pollen from one flower to another (pollination). In other
flowers, the wind blows the pollen between flowers. |
| 6. (Above) Pollen grains from
the anthers must get onto the stigma of (usually) another flower. When the pollen lands on
a stigma of a flower of the same kind, it will grow a tube down into the ovary and
fertilize an ovule inside. This will then grow and form a seed. NEXT |
|
|
2. Different kinds of plants produce
different kinds of seeds. The seeds are often carried to new places away from the parent
plant. Some may be blown by the wind, others may be carried by water and others by birds
or other animals. |
 |
 |
| 5. Once plants are adult, they
can begin to produce flowers. This may take only a few weeks for plants such as grasses,
or many years for plants such as Oak trees. Flowers contain male and female parts. In most
plants, these are both together in the same flowers. However, in some, they are in
separate flowers on the same plant (Hazel). Some species may have separate male and female
plants (Holly). |
|
|
3. When a seed arrives in a suitable habitat, it may immediately start to
grow (germinate). Some seeds however, need to remain dormant for some time before they
will germinate. |
|
|
|
 |
4. The
first two leaves of a seedling often look different to the adult leaves. They are green
and as soon as they open in the light, the little seedling can begin to make its own food.
It then no longer needs to use the food reserves in the seed. The seedling makes its own
food using water, carbon dioxide from air and light, in a process known as photosynthesis. |
|