Angiosperm Life Cycle
Flowering plants are known as angiosperms. They reproduce, or make more of themselves, through a process called sexual reproduction. This process needs a male cell, called a sperm, and a female cell, called an egg. The male sperm cells are in pollen grains on a part of the flower called the anther. The female egg cells are in a part of the flower called the ovary.
For a flowering plant to reproduce, the pollen grains have to move from the anther to a part of the flower called the stigma. This movement is called pollination. This can happen within the same flower, or between two different flowers of the same type.
When a pollen grain lands on the stigma, it grows a tube called a pollen tube. The pollen tube grows all the way to the ovary. Inside the ovary are things called ovules, which each have an egg cell.
A sperm cell travels from the pollen grain, down the pollen tube, and into the ovary. There, it joins with an egg cell. This joining is called fertilization.
After fertilization, the petals of the flower fall off and the ovule starts to turn into a seed. The ovary gets bigger and turns into a fruit to protect the seed. The seeds then need to get to new places to grow into new plants. This can happen when animals eat the fruits or carry the seeds on their bodies. The fruits and seeds can also fall and be carried away by wind or water.
In the right place and conditions, the seed will start to grow into a new plant. This is called germination.
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