Lucas Beaumont
We all know that seeds produce from flowers and the plants grow from seeds, is a never ending cycle of nature. We all like flowers but do not understand their importance. Fruits are also produced from the flowers. The transfer of pollens from anther to stigma is known as ‘pollination’. It is necessary to know about the parts of flower, in order to understand pollination. When we examine the flower carefully, we see a ring of green colour near the stem. It is known as calyx or sepals. The petals of the flower come out from this ring of calyx.
There are stamens amongst the petals. The fibre like part of stamen is called filament and the lobe over the filament is known as anther. This part of the flower contains the pollen grains. Sperm cells are present in these pollen grains which help in pollination. The inner part of the flower is called pistil, it consists of three parts. The outermost part is known as stigma, the middle part is tube shaped known as style and the lowermost part is known as ovary. Egg cells are present in ovary.
If any way the pollen grains reach the ovary then the process of pollination gets completed in the flower and due to which the seeds are formed in few days. In the flowers the pollination occurs in two ways. In the first way the pollen grains reach the ovary by themselves, this way is known as ‘self pollination’. This type of pollination occurs in sunflower. The second way of pollination is the cross pollination, in which the pollen grains of one flower are carried to another by insects, water and wind. When the flies or the flying insects suck the nectar of the flowers, they carry with them the pollen grains to the ovaries of the other flowers and the cross pollination takes place. Sometimes water carries the pollen grains of one flower to another. Sometimes the pollen grains are flown in the air by winds and then carried to the ovaries of other flowers. Healthy seeds are formed by cross pollination. In cotton, mustard and wheat seeds are formed by cross pollination.
