Flowering Plants
Flowering plants are the most abundant plants in the world. Flowering plants come in
a wide variety of shapes and sizes. The following are all examples of different
flowering plants:
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Oak trees
Prickly-pear cactuses
Irises
Bermuda grass
Bean stalks
Flowering plants can reproduce. During reproduction, a sperm fertilizes an egg. Both
the egg and sperm cells are located within the flower. The process of plant fertilization
is shown in the illustration below:
Pollination, the process of pollen grains moving from the anthers to the stigmas, is the
beginning of the process of fertilization. After the pollen lands on the stigmas, a tube
grows from the stigma to the ovary. The sperm cells in the pollen travel down the tube
and fuse with eggs sitting in the ovule.
Fertilized eggs develop into seeds. The ovule around the seeds develops into fruit.
The following illustration shows how fertilization leads to the development of fruit and
seeds:
When a developed seed for a flowering plant is dropped or planted in a suitable
environment, the seed begins to germinate, or sprout. Look at the illustration below to
see the stages a germinating plant goes through:
A few flowering plants are also able to reproduce in without combining sperm cells and
egg cells. That means the plant does not have to form flowers, seeds, and fruits to
produce a new plant. When a flowering plant reproduces in this way, a part of the
plant, such as a stem or root, produces a new plant. The "eyes" you see growing out
of some potatoes are examples of this type of reproduction.