Pollination and Fertilization
Flowers contain the structures necessary for sexual reproduction. The male component, or stamen, consists of a thin stalk called the filament, capped by the anther. The female component, the pistil, includes the stigma, a sticky surface that catches pollen; the ovary, which contains the ovule and embryo sac with its egg; and the style, a tube that connects the stigma and ovary (A). Pollen is produced in the anther (B), and is released when mature (C). Each mature pollen grain contains two sperm cells. In self-pollinating plants, the pollen lands on the stigma of the same flower, but in cross-pollinating plants—the majority of plants—the pollen is carried by wind, water, insects, or small animals to another flower. If the pollen attaches to the stigma of a flower from the same species, the pollen produces a pollen tube, which grows down the neck of the style, transporting the sperm to the ovule (D). Within the embryo sac of the ovule, one sperm cell fertilizes the egg, which develops in...