The New Childrens Encyclopedia

PLANT REPRODUCTION

91

O Flowers attract insects, birds, and mammals, which come

to feed on nectar. Bees also collect pollen. Once a plant is

fertilized, the flower is no longer needed. The petals die and fall off.

PLANT REPRODUCTION

SEED DISPERSAL

VEGETATIVE REPRODUCTION

 POLLINATION When a
bee visits a flower to drink
nectar, it picks up pollen from
the flower’s anthers.

 FERTILIZATION The bee

visits a second sunflower and

transfers the pollen to the

stigmas. This fertilizes the plant.

 SEEDS The pollen grows down

the style to the ovary, where it

fertilizes an egg cell. A new plant

starts to form. This is the seed.

 DISPERSAL In order to grow,

seeds need to leave the plant.

Birds eat the tasty seeds and pass

them through, dispersing them.

O Many plants produce fruit that

encourage animals to eat and

disperse their seeds, but not all...

 HITCHING A RIDE Burrs
become hooked onto animal fur.
Their host carries them away,
then they fall off to the ground.

 FORCE When the seeds are

ready, Himalayan balsam flowers

burst open. The force sends the

seeds flying out.

 WATER Coconut palms use

the sea to disperse their seeds.

Coconuts have been known to

drift for huge distances.

 WIND Dandelion seeds are

light and fluffy. Like tiny

parachutes, they catch the wind

to disperse far and wide.

O Some flowering plants don’t only reproduce through

seeds. Instead, they form plantlets that are genetically

identical to the parent plant.

 STOLONS Strawberries have
stolons—stems that grow along
the ground. New plants grow
from leaf nodes along the stolon.

 TUBERS such as Jerusalem

artichokes store food for the

parent plant, but they can also

sprout and grow into new plants.

 RHIZOMES Irises spread

through underground stems

called rhizomes. The rhizome

divides and forms new plants.

 BULB Onions and tulips

grow from bulbs, which are buds

that are surrounded by very

swollen leaves.

Stigma

Style Ovary

LIVING WORLD