Science Year 6

Flowering plants

Miss Mayfield
1) Using the diagram on the board, label the reproductive parts
of the flowering plant.

The Flower:
The flower is the reproductive unit of some plants (angiosperms). Parts of
the flower include petals, sepals, one or more carpels (the female
reproductive organs), and stamens (the male reproductive organs).
The Female Reproductive Organs:
The pistil is the collective term for the carpel(s). Each carpel includes an
ovary (where the ovules are produced; ovules are the female reproductive
cells, the eggs), a style (a tube on top of the ovary), and a stigma (which
receives the pollen during fertilization).
The Male Reproductive Organs:
Stamens are the male reproductive parts of flowers. A stamen consists of
an anther (which produces pollen) and a filament. The pollen consists of
the male reproductive cells; they fertilize ovules.
Fertilization:
Pollen must fertilize an ovule to produce a viable seed. This process is
called pollination, and is often aided by animals like bees, which fly from
flower to flower collecting sweet nectar. As they visit flowers, they spread
pollen around, depositing it on some stigmas. After a male's pollen grains
have landed on the stigma during fertilization, pollen tubes develop within
the style, burrowing down to the ovary, where the sperm fertilizes an
ovum (an egg cell), in the ovule. After fertilization, the ovule develops into
a seed in the ovary.
Types of Flowers:
Some flowers (called perfect flowers) have both male and female
reproductive organs; some flowers (called imperfect flowers) have only
male reproductive organs or only female reproductive organs. Some plants
have both male and female flowers, while other have males on one plant

Science Year 6

Flowering plants

Miss Mayfield
and females on another. Complete flowers have stamens, a pistil, petals,
and sepals. Incomplete flowers lack one of these parts.
2) Using this information, construct a table with the function of
each part of the flower.
The Female/Male Reproductive Organ: The Carpel/Stamen

From the ovary, extends a tubular structure called the style and on the
top of the style is a surface receptive to pollen called the stigma.
The stigma can take many different forms, most of them designed to help
trap pollen. There are many variations on this basic structural theme.
After fertilization the ovule becomes the seed and the ovary becomes
the fruit.
The male parts of a flower consist of one or more stamens. Each stamen
is made up of paired anthers (sacs containing pollen) on a filament or
stalk.
The anthers are the orange/yellow structures often seen in the centre of a
flower.
Pollen from the anthers of one flower is transferred to the stigma of
another usually either by wind, or by animals, especially insects.
PETALS, COROLLA, SEPALS, CALYX

Science Year 6

Flowering plants

Miss Mayfield
The reproductive structures in higher plants are contained within flowers.
Flowers have more than one petal, and the flower petals are
collectively called the corolla. A flower bud is protected by green
leafy structures called sepals. Collectively, all of the sepals form
the calyx.
The corolla or petals are often brightly coloured with markings attractive to
insects. The flowers may also be scented. For instance, Honeysuckle has
showy, attractive flowers which attract insects by day. However, in the
dark, their colourful show is not much use, and their heavy scent then
helps to attract night-flying moths.
In insect-pollinated plants, there are also usually nectaries which secrete
sugary nectar, located within the flower. These provide an incentive to
insects to visit the flowers. In the search for nectar, the insects will often
get pollen grains caught on their bodies. This may then brush off onto the
stigma of the next flower visited and in this way the flowers are pollinated.