Plant Reproduction

Plants can reproduce asexually or sexually.

To reproduce asexually, plants use rhizoids, fragmentation, or budding. Strawberries, crab grass, and Bermuda grass are examples of plants that reproduce with rhizoids. The creeping Charlie is an example of a plant that reproduces through fragmentation. The banana is an example of a plant that reproduces through budding.

Sexual reproduction in plants involves male and female plant organs. The female structures invovled in sexual reproduction are the stigma, the style and the ovary. The stigma is the sticky portion of the pistil that captures pollen. The style is long and slender and supports the stigma. The ovary is composed of one or more ovules and is responsible for housing the eggs. The male structures involved in sexual reproduction are the filament and the anther. The filament supports the anther which is responsible for storing and producing pollen. Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther to a stigma. Wind, water, insects, birds, and small mammals all aid in the pollination of plants. After pollination, one nuclei of the pollen grain forms a tube down through the style to the micropyle of the ovary. The second nuclei travels down the tube and splits into two sperm nuclei that fertilize the egg and combine with polar bodies to form the endosperm (stored fruit).