Biology · Development of organisms and continuity of life. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.
A flower is the reproductive organ of a plant. The stamens are the male parts: each has an anther, which makes pollen, on a filament. The carpels are the female parts: a stigma that receives pollen, a style, and an ovary that holds the ovules. Sepals protect the bud and petals attract insects.
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther to a stigma. A pollen tube then grows down the style into an ovule, and the male nucleus fuses with the female nucleus. This is fertilisation.
After fertilisation each ovule becomes a seed and the ovary becomes the fruit. Seeds are dispersed, then germinate when conditions are right.
Students mix up pollination and fertilisation. Pollination is only the pollen landing on the stigma; fertilisation happens later, inside the ovule, when the nuclei fuse.
Answer: It is self-pollination, so the offspring will show little variation.
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