Humans and animals have babies so that their species will continue. We say they reproduce. But did you know that plants also reproduce? All living things must reproduce, otherwise they will not continue to live and there will be none left over.
In most plants there will be a male and female part that combines and fertilization takes plce and the a seed will form and from it a new plant will grow.
Some plants do not need a male and a female part and they can reproduce asexually, which means you can break off a piece of the leave or stem or root and a new plant will grow from that plant. But how does this happen?
If a plant has a flower you will find male and female parts in it. Some plants can pollinate themselves but most plants need the help of insects to cross-pollinate, which mean they will take the pollen from the male part and then take it to another flower where it will fall on the female part. Insects like bees and butterflies are very important in this process.
To understand how pollination takes place, we will have to look at the different parts of a flower.
The 'anther' and the 'filament' is called the 'Stamen' and is the male part of the flower and the 'stigma, style and ovary' is called the 'Pistil' and make up the female part.
An insect comes and sit on the anther that has pollen on it and the pollen gets stuck to its body. When the insect goes and sits on the other flower, the pollen will fall onto the stigma. The pollen will start growing down the style until it reaches the ovary.
Inside the ovary the 'egg cells' form and the pollen and the egg cell will become one and now fertilization has taken place and seeds will form that will be released from the flower in different ways and land in the soil and if the conditions are right with enough sunlight and water, a new plant will grow.
The flowers are colourful and produces nectar - a sweet juice that insects eat or the bees use it to make honey - and this attracts the bees and the butterflies. These insects are called 'pollinators' because they help with the pollination of the flowers.
This is a very good reason why we need to protect our honey bees. Without pollinators, some plants will not be able to reproduce and they will become extinct. (There will be none of them left.)