Reproduction+-+Plants

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**Flower Parts ** Flowers are important in making seeds. Flowers can be made up of different parts, but there are some parts that are basic equipment. The main flower parts are the male part called the stamen and the female part called the pistil.  The stamen has two parts: anthers and filaments. The anthers carry the pollen. These are generally yellow in color. Anthers are held up by a thread-like part called a filament. The pistil has three parts: stigma, style, and ovary. The stigma is the sticky surface at the top of the pistil; it traps and holds the pollen. The style is the tube-like structure that holds up the stigma. The style leads down to the ovary that contains the ovules.

Pollination
When pollination occurs, pollen moves from the male parts to the female parts. Pollen grains land on the stigma and a tiny tube grows from it and down the style into the ovary. The fertilized ovule becomes the seed and the ovary becomes the fruit. Since flowers can't move, they need to be able to attract pollinators or be built so that wind is able to pollinate them. Flowers attract pollinators like bees, butterflies, insects, and birds with sweet nectar, bright colors, and shapes and structures. Some flowers open at special times to attract pollinators such as night blooming plants that are pollinated by bats.

Nonflowering Plants
Some plants don't produce flowers and seeds. Plants such as ferns and mosses are called nonflowering plants and produce spores instead of seeds. There is also another group called the Fungi, that include mushrooms, and these also reproduce by spores. We often think of these individuals as "non photosynthetic plants" when in fact they belong to their very own group or kingdom. Spores are microscopic specks of living material. Ferns produce their spores on the undersides of the leaves (fronds). You may have seen them. They are the brown "spots" or "pads" on the bottom of the leaves. If you have access to a microscope, use it to look at the spores. You will find them to be a variety of shapes and unique to each kind of fern. Plants from parts is a form of asexual or vegetative propagation. This process is sometimes called cloning because every new plant is exactly like the parent. One type of cloning uses cuttings--parts of plants that grow into new plants. Both stems and leaves can be used as cuttings. Another kind of cloning is grafting--the joining together of two plants into one. Other kinds of cloning use bulbs or tubers--underground parts that make new plants. You will learn more about bulbs and tubers in Case #5.