This first picture is of the flower before any of the dissection occoured. This particular flower was procured by the Mickey long center in the Humming Bird garden. The flower is an adaptation for the group of plants known as angiosperms which is the great majority of plants today.
This second picture is of the male reproductive system of this flower.We have peeled back the petals for a clear veiw. The anthers are where pollen and sperm are stored, the pollen being a trait developed long ago so that the need of water for the plants was no longer nessecary. originally the sperm would swim through the water between clumpings of plants, but ultimately couldn't go very far. With pollen there are now multiple ways of transfer.
In the third picture we have opened up to reveal some of the pollen inside. This pollen carrieres the sperm producing cells in contact with the eggs in order to create a seed. This allows the sperm to be carried by wind, not only meaning that it's carried much farther, spreading genetic diversity to a community, but also allowing it to better survivve on land and have to rely less on water.
In the fourth picture we have the stigma, located close to the opening of the flower. They have hairs that trap pollen that will fertilize the egg. To further increase efficiency most stigmas are also cover in a waxy or sticky solution. When Bees or other pollenators go from flower to flower they will land by or on the stigma transferring pollen from other flowers to the flower further helping with genetic diversity. When a bee flies several miles it is introducing plants from all over a neighborhood.
Our fith the picture is of the ovules. This is where the eggs are held and stored to be furtilized by sperm, and then released. You can see the eggs in the picture as well, hapliod cells that will eventually become a new plant. Those eggs become equipt with all they need to grow and thrive into a completely separate plant. Often times they will be carried in fruits because then animals spread them much farther than if they just fell below the original parent plant.
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