How do Plants Grow & Reproduce?

Plant a Tree for your Tomorrow …

You must have heard that John Denver song on Arbor Day. It’s about the conservation of trees and plants. Plants are essential for our survival because they produce oxygen which we breathe and they are a source of food which we eat. They have many more uses too – as raw material for clothing and shelter, for medicinal purposes, and to bring beauty and pleasure into our lives. Plants are found almost everywhere on earth. How do plants multiply and grow?

Angiosperms and Gymnosperms

Most plants grow from seeds. Depending on how seeds are formed, plants may be of two kinds:

1. Angiosperms are flowering plants. They produce seeds within its fruit. The flower contains reproductive organs – stamens (male) and pistils (female).
2. Gymnospermshave no flowers or fruits. Instead, they bear cones – pollen (male cones) and seed (female cones).

The process of Reproduction of such plants begins with the production ofPollen Grainsin their male reproductive organs, which Fertilizeafter reaching the Ovaries in the female reproductive organs. The Fertilization process produces new seeds.

Natural elements such as the wind or the bees transport the pollen in a process called Pollination. When pollen is carried from one flower to another, it is called Cross-Pollination. Pollination may also occur within the same flower, which is called Self-Pollination.

The new seeds produced after fertilization are also dispersed by natural elements such as wind, water, or animals, to new soil areas where the process of Germination starts – the seed germinates in soil and grows roots, stems, and leaves to become a new plant. When the plant has grown to maturity it again grows either flowers or cones and the process of reproduction begins again.

Check Point

1. Flowering plants are known as ______.
2. Cone-bearing plants are known as ______.
3. The reproductive organs of a flower are the ______ and ______.
4. When pollen is carried from one flower to another, it is called ______.
5. The process by which a seed in soil grows roots, stems, and leaves to become a new plant is known as ______.

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