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Plant Life Cycle Exploration

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Plant Life Cycle Exploration

Read the field notes, then solve each task. Use evidence from the notes and your science knowledge. A plant life cycle shows how one generation produces seeds that can grow into the next.

Field notes: A bean plant

Mere planted a bean seed in warm, moist soil. First, the seed absorbed water and began to sprout. A root grew down into the soil and a shoot grew upwards. The shoot became a seedling with leaves. As the plant grew, it developed buds and then flowers. Pollen from the flower’s anther must reach a flower’s stigma for pollination to occur. Insects such as bees can carry pollen between flowers; wind can carry pollen for some plants too. After pollination, a pollen cell can join with an ovule inside the flower. This is fertilisation. The fertilised ovule develops into a seed, and the flower’s ovary develops into a fruit—in a bean plant, the fruit is a pod. When a pod is mature, it may open or fall, releasing seeds. If conditions are suitable, a seed can germinate and the cycle begins again.

Investigate the clues

Answer each question. For multiple-choice questions, choose one answer unless the question says to select more than one.

1.Put these events in the order they happen, from first to last: flowers open; seed germinates; a seedling grows; a mature plant produces pods.

2.What is pollination?

Water moving from a root to a leaf
Pollen reaching a flower’s stigma
A seed absorbing water
A fruit dropping from a plant

3.Select the two ways pollen can travel mentioned in the field notes.

Bees
Wind
Rain
Roots

4.Complete the explanation: During fertilisation, a pollen cell joins with an inside the flower. The fertilised ovule develops into a .

5.A flower has been pollinated. Which event is the best evidence that fertilisation has also taken place?

A pollen cell has joined with an ovule
A bee has landed on the flower
The petals have opened
Rain has fallen on the soil

6.In a bean plant, what develops into the pod, and what develops into the seeds?

7.A bean pod contains several seeds. Explain how the pod and seeds help the plant life cycle continue.

8.True or false: Every flowering plant must be pollinated by an insect.

TrueFalse

9.Mere observes that bees visit bean flowers. Describe how a bee’s visit could help a bean plant produce seeds.

10.A seed is planted in dry soil and does not sprout. Give one condition that is likely missing and explain why it matters.

11.Draw a simple bean flower and label the anther, stigma, petal and stem. Add an arrow to show one possible direction pollen travels during pollination.

Use the space to draw and label your flower. Include the pollen-travel arrow.