Category Plants & Animals

The pollen that fertilizes the stigma may come from the same flower or from a nearby flower. Many flowers are fertilized (or pollinated) by insects. The flowers produce drops of sweet liquid called nectar at the base of their petals. When insects visit the flower to drink the nectar, pollen from the anthers rubs off onto their wings, bodies and legs. When the insect visits another flower, the pollen is deposited on its sticky stigma.

Fertilization is a process of sexual reproduction in plants, which occurs after pollination and germination. Fertilization can be defined as the fusion of the male gametes (pollen) with the female gametes (ovum) to form a diploid zygote. It is a physicochemical process which occurs after the pollination of the carpel. The complete series of this process takes place in the zygote to develop into a seed.

In the fertilization process, flowers play a significant role as they are the reproductive structures of angiosperms (flowering plants). The method of fertilization in plants occurs when gametes in haploid conditions fuse to produce a diploid zygote. In the course of fertilization, male gametes get transferred into the female reproductive organs through pollinators (honey bees, birds, bats, butterflies, flower beetles) and the final product will be the formation of the embryo in a seed.

In flowers, the pollen grain germinates after the pollination of the carpel and grows into the style by creating the pathway for the pollen grain to move down to the ovary. The pollen tube breaks into the ovule through the micropyle and bursts into the embryo sac. Here the male nucleus fuses with the nucleus of an egg inside the ovule forming a diploid zygote, which later swells up and develops into a fruit.

The different shapes of flowers help to ensure that they are fertilized. Flowers that rely on insects for pollination must make sure that the insect is carrying pollen from the same kind of plant. The shape of the flower ensures that only certain kinds of insect can pollinate it. Flat flowers, such as daisies and sunflowers, can be visited by hoverflies and some bees. Flowers that are formed into tubes only attract insects that have long tongues. As flowers bloom at different times of the year, there are usually only a few different species available to each insect at any one time, so the chances of pollination are increased.

The flowers of plants have evolved to permit the transmission of pollen and (hopefully) its eventual reception by an appropriate ovum of the same species. Many flowers have evolved to attract pollinators (mostly insects, bird and bats) with a nectar reward and are colored or structured to be attractive only to a few (or a single) pollinator to increase the odds of successful pollen transmission. For example, red flowers (and fruits) are attractive to birds, yellow to bees, blue to butterflies, and white to moths and bats.

In addition, the size and structure of the flower contributes to the type of fruiting bodies. Fruits can be a source of nutrients for some seeds, but they are also often a means of dispersing the seeds. Many fruits are palatable only to certain animals, and evolved to prevent damage to the seeds while the fruit is digested. Some plant species require that an animal erode the outside of the fruit or seed in its digestive tract, or else to break the fruit open. 

Flowering plants are known as angiosperms. Although there are plenty of plants that do not have flowers, such as mosses, ferns, algae and conifers, the majority of plants on Earth are flowering ones. That does not mean that they are what we generally think of as flowers — colourful blooms that can be presented in bouquets. Most trees and grasses, for example, are flowering plants, but their flowers may be so small that they usually go unnoticed.

No. Although most of the world’s plants are flowering plants called angiosperms (from the Greek words for “vessel” and “seed”), there are hundreds of plants that do not make flowers. Seed plants that do not have flowers such as cycads, ginkgo, and conifers are called gymnosperms. Conifers, for example, are common gymnosperms; instead of flowers, conifers have cones that produce pollen or eggs. Well-known examples are cedars, cypresses, Douglas firs, junipers, pines, redwoods, and spruces. Male cones are small and soft, and female cones are large and hard. Wind carries pollen from the male cone to the female cone. As the eggs are pollinated and seeds develop, the scales of the cone open up to release the seeds. Once the seeds take root, a new plant grows. Other plants that do not have flowers are mosses; although they sometimes look like they are blooming, the flower-like part is a little capsule full of spores at the end of a small stem.

Flowers are the reproductive parts of a plant. Usually, one flower has both male and female parts. The male parts are the stamens, which consist of filaments and anthers. Filaments are like little stalks that support the anthers. Anthers produce tiny dust-like grains called pollen. The female part of a flower is called the carpel. This consists of an ovary, ovules, a style and a stigma. The ovary is hidden in a bulb-shaped receptacle at the base of the flower. Inside the ovary are one or more ovules, which become seeds if the flower is fertilized. Rising from the ovary is a small, sticky stem called the style, the tip of which is the stigma. In order for a flower to be fertilized, pollen must be transferred from the male stamen to the female stigma.

Flowers do much more than just provide beauty and lovely scents. Their primary purpose is reproduction. During the reproductive process, flowers make use of their colorful petals to attract pollinators such as insects and animals. These creatures are also lured by the nectar that flowers produce in their nectarines, glands that are often found at the base of their petals. By producing nectar, flowers are able to provide food for the insects that help to pollinate the plants. After a flower is pollinated, its fertilized ovule develops into a seed that can create a new plant; and the ovary that formed the ovule becomes a fruit. The process of plant reproduction, then, also generates food for people and animals to eat.

In addition to reproduction, flowers also serve important roles in gardens in particular. Some flowers possess an unparalleled ability to attract insects that are beneficial for the fertilization of other garden plants. On the other hand, certain other flowers can repel unwanted insects that are harmful to garden vegetables and fruits. Employing flowers as “garden guardians” can allow gardeners to decrease the amount of pesticides they use on their crops, which in turn leads to an increased number of beneficial insects in the garden. For instance, lavender is great for repelling fleas, moths, and whiteflies. Japanese beetles, those garden pests, can be attracted and killed by Four O’clock flowers planted near vegetable gardens (though these plants are poisonous to animals and humans). Furthermore, the act of planting flowers in itself is beneficial to humans, allowing the planter to burn calories and increase elasticity in certain muscles.

About 9000 years ago, human beings invented farming. Since then, they have carefully selected the crops that give the best harvests under different conditions. Particularly in the last two hundred years, selective plant breeding has developed the characteristics that farmers and consumers require. Now that machines are used to pick most crops, and large stores prefer to package fruits and vegetables in regular sizes, many commercial varieties have been bred to produce even fruits that ripen together.

For most of history, humans have been hunter-gatherers. Adopting a more nomadic lifestyle, we moved with the changing seasons, with livestock migration patterns and adapted as climate change impacted crops and the surrounding environment. Today, we embrace technologies that our ancestors likely could never have dreamed of, but the incorporation of modern capabilities into agricultural practices took time and didn’t entirely abandon early advancements. In other words: our ability to grow and sustain life on a billboard didn’t come to us overnight.

The first true shift in agriculture came nearly 12,000 years ago at the start of the Neolithic Revolution (a.k.a. the Agricultural Revolution), which marked the first instances of a more permanent, settled lifestyle. Humans found a practical, long-term solution for food in the Fertile Crescent, an area located across what is now the Middle East, with ready access to major bodies of water such as the Mediterranean Sea. Humans began cultivating plants, domesticating such crops as wheat, barley, peas, and flax, and livestock, breeding domestic pigs from wild boars, goats from Persian ibex, and the sheep and cows commonly found on today’s farms.

For centuries, very little changed — a settled life with access to high-quality land and domesticated animals didn’t lend itself to transition. Then came the Middle Ages, a period marked by selective cross-breeding of plants and animals for optimal quality and a technique known as ridge and furrow farming, a plowing technique employing oxen (and later, horses) that inspired similar methods used today.

The development of crop rotation, or the growing and harvesting of different crops on the same land during different seasons, in the 16th century drove the modernization of farming practices, but it was the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century that really took humans from the past into the present. With crops that required fewer workers, better soil replenishment and improved livestock care, more people could work in urban industries as a result of agricultural productivity.

The 20th century introduced widespread use of machinery, fertilizer and pesticide technology, which coincided with huge population growth. As a result, food largely became an affordable and accessible commodity in developed countries.

Today, we find ourselves at yet another turning point in which we must balance sustainability and increased food production for the 9.6 billion people expected in the world by 2050. At Bayer, we strive to continually advance attach innovation to help tackle agricultural challenges such as these. Through digital farming, we’re leveraging improved data collection methods and GPS systems, and other innovative technologies like airborne photosynthesis sensors to drought resistant seeds.

Some plants do gain extra minerals and other nutrients by trapping and “eating” insects. They are usually found in areas where there are not enough nutrients in the soil for healthy growth.

Would you believe that there are some plants that eat insects and even small animals from time to time? It’s true! We call these exotic things carnivorous plants. Although most carnivorous plants eat small insects, larger carnivorous plants in tropical areas have been known to capture rats, birds, and frogs.

One carnivorous plant that many students are familiar with is the Venus flytrap. Its unique “jaws” can be triggered by flies and other small insects. Once its jaws close on its prey, the Venus flytrap secretes enzymes that break down the insect into a goo that can be absorbed for its nutrients.

There are several other examples of carnivorous plants. The pitcher plant, for example, has leaves like champagne flutes, which can capture insects. Sundews, on the other hand, trap their victims with sticky tentacles. Bladderworts grow in ponds and streams, where they suck in their prey like underwater vacuum cleaners.

Carnivorous plants tend to grow in areas where the soil is very thin and lacks necessary nutrients. To survive, these plants must find other sources for the nutrients they need. Trapping and digesting insects allows these unique plants to survive. Unfortunately, human and environmental factors continue to threaten the limited environments where you can find wild carnivorous plants.

For many people, the thought of a plant eating an animal seems very strange. In fact, more than one person has turned the idea into a scary story or movie. Don’t worry, though, carnivorous plants don’t pose any danger to humans. Unless you’re the size of a tiny insect, you don’t have to worry about falling prey to a Venus flytrap or a pitcher plant.