Category Plants & Animals

Like all living things, plants start their lives, grow, reproduce, and die. These steps make up a plant’s life cycle.

A seed plant begins when a seed germinates, or sprouts. A tiny root bursts out of the seed’s shell and pushes down into the ground in search of water. A tiny stem pushes up through the soil in search of sunlight. A new plant soon pokes its head above the ground.

The plant grows. Its roots take in water. Its leaves make food. After a time, the plant is fully grown. Small plants may become fully grown in a few weeks or months. A huge tree may take hundreds of years or more.

When a plant is ready to reproduce, it makes flowers or cones. The flowers and cones make pollen and eggs. The pollen and eggs join. Then new seeds form. Some seeds will be eaten by animals. Others will land in a place where they cannot grow. But some seeds will find a spot where the soil, water, and temperature are just right. These seeds will germinate, and the life cycle will begin again.

When a plant grows old, it dies. Its roots, stem, and leaves become part of the soil.

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All seed plants have special seed-making parts. Most seed plants make their seeds inside flowers. The seed-making parts of a flower include long stalks. Some stalks have enlarged tips called anthers. Anthers make a golden dust called pollen. Other stalks have a sticky top called a stigma.

A seed starts to form when pollen from one flower falls onto the stigma of another flower of the same kind. The pollen travels down the stalk until it reaches a tiny egg. The pollen joins with the egg, which then grows into a seed.

Other seed plants make their seeds inside cones. There are two kinds of cones. One is small and delicate. It makes pollen. The other kind of cone is covered with wood scales and makes eggs. A seed starts to form when pollen blows from the delicate cones and lands on the scaly cones. The pollen and the eggs join. The scales close around the developing seeds. When the seeds are ripe, the scales open up again, and the seeds fall from the cones.

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Plants can’t move around. So how do you think they spread their pollen to make seeds? Most plants use the wind or animals to help them pollinate.

All grasses and many trees, such as hazels and birches, scatter their pollen on the wind. The anthers of these plants hang out of the flower so that a puff of wind can carry away the pollen. The stigmas of these plants also hang out of the flower. They can catch the pollen as it blows past.

Insects, birds, and bats help spread the pollen of some plants. The flowers of these plants attract the animals. Many such flowers are full of sweet-tasting juice called nectar that bees and other animals like to eat. Some flowers “advertise” their supply of nectar with strong scents and bright colours.

When an animal visits a flower to sip the nectar, pollen brushes off onto its body. Then, when it visits the next flower, the pollen on its body brushes off into that flower.

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A seed is a baby plant and a bundle of food all wrapped up in a package.

Different kinds of plants have different kinds of seeds. Some seeds are as big as a tennis ball. Others are smaller than a grain of sand. Some are round, some are flat, and some are long and thin. But in every kind of seed a baby plant, with its store of food, is waiting to grow.

In places that have cold winters, springtime is come-to-life time for seeds. Water from melting snow and spring rains sinks into the ground and soaks into the seed. The seed’s tough shell – the cover of the package – becomes soft. The food inside the shell swells up with water. Then the shell bursts open.

The baby plant pushes out. It uses its store of food to begin growing. A tiny root pushes down into the ground in search of water. A tiny stem grows up through the soil in search of sunlight.

As the plant grows, it uses its store of food. When it pokes its head above the ground into the sunshine, the plant begins to make its own food. It makes food out of sunlight, air, and water that its roots find.

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If a seed grew close to its parent, it probably would be in the shade. It could not get the sunlight it needs to grow. It would not have enough space to grow, either. Somehow, the seed must get to a place where it can grow. Luckily, seeds have many ways of doing this.

Some seeds, such as those of the maple tree, float on the wind. Their “wings” carry them a long way. Other seeds catch a ride with animals. When animals eat fruit, they eat the seeds along with it, and the seeds pass through the animal’s body. The animal may travel far before dropping the seeds. Other seeds, such as those of bur marigolds and cleavers, grow inside fruits that stick to things. They hitchhike on the fur of passing animals until they are brushed off.

Some fruits actually explode. Dry peapods split open, hurling their seeds in all directions. Touch-me-not plants have pods that fly open at the slightest movement. And the squirting cucumber shoots out seeds in a jet of liquid.

Plants have many different parts. Many have roots, stems, and leaves. All the parts work together to help the plant live and grow. Not every plant has all these parts, but most do.

Roots grow from the bottom of the plant down into the ground and spread out. Like sponges, roots soak up water and minerals for the plant. Roots are anchors too. By growing down and spreading out in the ground, they hold a plant firmly in place.

Stems support a plant’s leaves and hold them towards the light. Flowers grow from the stems. Water and minerals travel to the rest of the plant through tiny tubes in the stems. The trunk of a tree is a big stem.

Leaves make food for the plant. They use the energy of sunlight to change air, water, and minerals into sugar and starch. Leaves grow in many shapes and sizes. Some are broad and flat. Others are long and thin. Some leaves have smooth edges. The edges of other leaves are jagged or wavy. And some leaves look like needles or spines.

Picture Credit : Google