|
Meet Pipa the bird and Bernard the donkey. They are explaining plant fertilisation.
|
|
|
|
 | |  |
| So, the pollen is the male gamete. in wind pollinated flowers, they are exposed on the anther. In insect pollinated flowers, the pollen is usually inside the flower so the insect has to go there. | |
 | |  |
|
 |
| | |
| Yeah! And then, the pollen gets transferred to a flower of the same kind, either by wind or insects. Wind pollinated flowers have feathery stigmas to catch pollen in the wind. | |
| | |
|
|
|
|
The insect pollinated flower often has a sticky stigma so when the insect comes in contact with it, the pollen sticks.
|
|
|
|
| | |
| Fertilisation, by definition, is the fusion of male and female gametes. So, Bernard, how does this happen? | |
| | |
|
|
| | |
| A tube grows from the pollen down into the ovary, where the ovules are. The pollen nucleus travels down this tube and meets with the ovule's nucleus. And BAM! A zygote forms! | |
| | |
|
|
|
|
A zygote is a diploid cell that results from the fusion of two gametes.
|
|
|
|
| | |
| This zygote will form a seed, which drops to the ground, or the ovary will develop into a fruit which has many seeds. These seeds will be dispersed by wind or animals to avoid competition for stuff. | |
| | |
|
|
| | |
| That's right. Seeds have an embryo plant with a shoot (plumule) and root (radicle). Cotyledons act as food store as the seed germinates. See the next comic to learn more about germination! | |
| | |
|
|
|
