Category Plants & Animals

 

 

To make a seed, pollen has to go from the male part of one flower to the female part of another flower. Many flowers have help from insects to move the pollen. Some plants use the wind, birds and other animals to carry pollen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If a bee goes into this flower, pollen may rub off onto its legs.

When an insect enters a flower, it rubs against the male stamens as it tries to find nectar to feed on. Sticky pollen attaches itself to the insect’s back and legs. The insect then flies to another flower. Some insects are furry to make sure that even more pollen sticks to them.

 

 

 

 

The bee carries the pollen to the next flower.

Pollination is when a pollen grain lands on the carpel of a flower. Plants that use the wind to transfer pollen must produce thousands of pollen grains. This way, at least some of them reach a carpel.

 

 

 

 

 

Pollen joins with an egg to make a seed.

When a pollen grain lands on the sticky carpel, it grows a tube down towards   the female egg. When they join they begin to produce a seed and seed’s casing. This process is called fertilization.

 

Flowers open out from buds in spring or summer when it is warm and light. Sepals on the buds keep them warm and dry until it is time to open. Sepals are usually green and look like small leaves.

A seed may grow inside the carpel.

Below is a cross-section of a flower and its stem. It shows the parts of flower. A group of carpels is called a pistil. Seeds may eventually form from the egg inside each carpel. Not all flowers have both the male and female parts.

 

 

 

 

 

The petals are orange and the sepals are green.

Most flowers are made of four parts – sepals, petals, carpels and stamens. The sepals protect the flower bud. After the bud has opened, the sepals have done their job and may fall off. Petals are often brightly coloured. They surround and protect the carpel and stamens inside them. There is sugary nectar in the base of most flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the yellow pollen on the stamens.

The stamens are the male part of the flower. Stamens produce pollen. The carpel is the female part of the flower. In this photo, the carpel is in the middle of the stamens. Some flowers have only one carpel. But others have many.

 

Flowers are many shapes, sizes and colours. Some are big and colourful. Others are tiny. Some flowers look like leaves. Even trees and grasses have flowers. Most plants have flowers so they can make seeds. Seeds can grow into new plants.

 

 

 

 

 

This big pink rose is easy to see.

The goal of every plant is to make the next generation of plants. Most plants do this by producing seeds. Flowers contain all the parts that a plant needs to make seeds. Insects and animals help too. This flower’s bright colour and strong sweet scent make it easy for them to spot.

 

 

 

 

This is the world’s biggest flower.

The Rafflesia flower is the world’s biggest flower. It is found in the jungles of Malaysia and can grow up to one metre wide. Instead of growing in the ground, it attaches itself to other plants. It smells of rotting meat!

 

 

 

 

One sunflower is made of lots of ting flowers.

Flowers come in all shapes and sizes. Tulips have one bell-shaped flower at the top of the stem. Foxgloves have lots of flowers all the way up the stem. A sunflower looks like one big flower. If you look closely you will see that it is made up of lots of tiny flowers, called florets.

 

 

 

Most living things need air to live. You cannot see the air, nut it is all around you. You can feel it when the wind blows. Animals and plants breathe in and out all the time. Without air they would die. Plants need to breathe so they can make food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animals and plants need different parts of the air.

Air is made up of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide. They use the carbon to make food and release oxygen back into the air. Plants do not breathe in and out in the same way as animals. Instead, they absorb carbon dioxide from the air.

 

 

Continue reading “How do plants breathe?”

 

Plants make their own food. They do this in the green parts of their leaves. Most plants need sunlight to make food, so they grow toward the sun. Plants also need air and water to make their sugary food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plants only make food in the daytime when there is light.

To make food in their green leaves plants need water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight. A chemical in leaves called chlorophyll absorbs the energy from sunlight. It uses this energy to turn the carbon dioxide and water into sugar. It is chlorophyll that makes leaves look green.

 

 

 

 

Sunflowers turn their heads to follow the sun as it crosses the sky.

Plants compete with each other for light. They angle their leaves and flowers to catch as much sunlight as possible. If there is not enough light, they grow tall and thin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture shows how plants make food.

Plants need sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make food. The way plants make their sugary food is called photosynthesis.

 

 

Most plants have flowers so they can make seeds. There is a new plant with a tiny root and shoot inside every seed. There is also some food for the new plant in the seed. A seed needs water and light so it can start to grow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plants need sunlight, soil and water to grow.

Once a seed has begun to sprout it usually needs soil, water and sunlight so it can grow from a seedling into a healthy plant. Some plants make new plants by sending out stems that grow roots and turn into new plants. The shoots they send out are called runners.

 

 

 

 

 

Tulips grow from a bulb.

Some new plants grow from bulbs or corms. An onion is a bulb. When a bulb first grows, the new plant gets energy from the leaves of the bulb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bean plants grow from a seed.

Seeds do not grow until the conditions are right. When a seed finds the right conditions, it will grow a root and a shoot. Some coconut palm seeds float out at sea for months before they reach a place to grow.