Students will be able to:
Flowers need pollinating so they can produce seeds. To produce a seed, pollen is moved from the anther of one flower to the stigma of a another flower of the same type. This process is called pollination, which leads to fertilisation and seed formation within the lower part of the flower.
There are two main ways pollen is moved from flower to flower:
Plants have evolved cunning ways of getting animals to move pollen from flower to flower. Because pollen is a rich protein and vitamin source and nectar is high in energy, animals want to feed on them. So they move from flower to flower trying to get as much as possible. As they do this, pollen sticks to the animal's head, feet, hairs, feathers or body. Then, as they continue to forage it ends up sticking to the stigmas of other flowers, thereby achieving pollination.
To get pollinating animals to visit in the first place a flower might:
Once an insect or bird learns that there is food to be had, they will visit this type of flower over and over.
Photo credits: Thumbnail photo Cypripedium pollination (Beatriz Moisset CC BY-SA 4.0). Flower diagram (created brgfx - www.freepik.com, https://www.freepik.com/free-v...) .Bumble bee, honey bee and tūī photos (© Peter E Smith, NSIL.).
