Student Blog Post Assignment #7

Flowering plants reproduce differently than animals. They reproduce through pollination, which involves the transfer of male gametes and female ovules. After pollination, the ovules grow to seeds within a fruit.

This is a picture of our brassica. Below are some close up pictures of some of the different parts of the plant.

This picture shows the anther with a stigma on it. The anther is basically the male reproductive system of a plant and it holds pollen/sperm cells and the stigma is the female reproductive system. Pollen is spread by bees that touch the pollen.

This is a picture of the stigma. On the plant, the stigma is where the germination of pollen grains occurs. Along with the style, and ovary, the stigma is also part of another one of the flower's structures called the pistil.

This is the ovule.  Each ovule is attached to a stalk that holds it. A small opening in the integuments (outer protective layer) at the apex of the ovule allows the pollen tube to enter and inject its sperm nuclei into the embryo sac (a large ovular cell in which fertilization and development occur).

This is a closer view of the pollen grain