Plant life cycle
Parts of a flower
Life Cycle of plants
Plant Life Cycles
This week we are thinking about the life cycle of a plant. In KS1 you would have learnt about how a seed germinates, starts to grow shoots and roots, grows into a mature plant which then produces seeds and the life cycle starts again. I have included a link to a guided reading text on the growth of a bean plant to remind you.
In KS2 we look at the pollination part of the life cycle in more detail and find out how each part of a flower plays a key part. Read the following and look at the videos and then label the parts of a flower and complete the plant life cycle.
The parts we all recognise on a flower are called the petals. They can be different shapes and sizes and many of them are very colourful and decorative to attract insects or animals. This is vital for the movement of pollen for pollination to occur and in some cases for seed dispersal. The sepals are the outer part of the flower and are usually green and they protect the petals before the flower opens.
The male parts of the plant and called the anther and filament. Together they are known as the stamen - luckily Mrs R remembered there are 2 parts that are male and they make the staMEN so got the question correct in last night's online quiz. This male part of the plant is the one which has the pollen on it. The filament is like a long tube and the anther is on the top and it is where the pollen is produced. If you look at a lily or a daffodil you can see the orange, dust-like particles of pollen on the top of the anthers. When an insect, such as a bee, visits a flower to find nectar the pollen then rubs off onto the insect and then is transferred to the female part of a flower when the insect moves to its next location. Pollination can also take place with bats and birds.
The female parts of the plants are called the carpels and is composed of the stigma, the ovary and the style. This is the place where seeds are made. It is the part of the flower which is right in the middle and is often surrounded by the male parts of a flower. During pollination pollen attaches to the stigma. It then travels down the style into the ovary which contains the ovules. A pollen grain the fertilises the ovules or egg cells and they grow into seeds.
Most plants have both male and female parts but sometimes plant can have all male or all female parts.
Some plants self-pollinate where the pollen moves from the anther to the stigma of the same plant and other plants cross-pollinate and so rely on insects, bats or birds to do this. Some of the plants grow into food for humans and this is why bees are so important.