PLANT REPRODUCTION

-Plants reproduce (multiply and become more) in two main ways namely:
1. Asexual reproduction (where no flowers or seeds are used eg use of roots in runner
grass, cuttings in sugarcane/mulberry/etc, truncheons, tubers in potatoes and shoots
in bananas.
2. Sexual reproduction (where plants produce flowers or cones and seeds)

Sexual Reproduction
- Plants produce flowers or cones and seeds.

pollen grains

anther

filament stigma

style petals

calyx ovary

Parts of a flower
-Flowers have male and female parts:
 male parts are called stamens and these include the anther and the filament
 female parts include stigma, style and ovary
Part Function
Anther -produce pollen grains
Filament -holds the anther firmly in place
Stigma -sticks pollen grains that come into contact with it
Style -joins the stigma to the ovary and is the passage through which pollen
grains travel from the anther to the ovary
Ovary -contains ovules and it develops into a fruit
Petals -attract flowers with their bright colours
-protect inner parts of the flower

NB. 1. Flowers produce male and female sex cells which join to form seeds.
  The male sex cells are called pollen grains.
 The female sex cells are called ovules.

-Pollen grains are transferred from the anther to the stigma by wind, insects and other small
animals.
-The transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma is called pollination.
-There are two types of flowers namely:
 Insect pollinated flowers which have bright petals that attract the insects. Trees, shrubs
and herbs have insect-pollinated flowers.
 Wind pollinated flowers which have dull petals that do not attract insects; therefore
they are pollinated by blowing wind. Grass has wind pollinated flowers.
-Things that attract insects and other small animals to a flower are:
 the bright or coloured petals
 nectar which is the sweet substance produced by flowers
 scent which is the smell the flowers produce
-When pollen grains stick on the stigma, they pierce or burrow into the stigma and go down
the style into the ovary where each pollen grain is joins with one ovule.
-The joining of the pollen grain and an ovule to form a seed is called fertilisation. Remember
that one pollen grain fertilizes one ovule only.
-When all the ovules are fertilized, the petals, male and female parts of the flower die off and
the ovary grows into a fruit.
NB. A maize plant has anthers on the tassel and the cob is the ovary.