Fruit, Flowers, & Pollination

Brooke & Becca (TL)

May 31st 10:05-10:55 am
Introduction:
Reminder of class rules & names
Introduce topic
Objectives:
By the end of the presentation, students will:
1. Identify the major functions of a flower.
2. Identify the role of pollinators in the plant life cycle.
Icebreaker: What Part of the Plant? (review/culminating activity)
a. Write different categories on flip chart (seed, root, stem, leaf, fruit)
b. Give each student a picture of a food and see if they can match it to the correct part of the plant
c. Have them come up and tape it on the flipchart in the appropriate section.
Content:
2. Structure & Function of Flowers (bring in a flower to show?)
a. Functions of the flower
i.
Produce nectar (sugary substance with nutrients and proteins that other organisms eat)
ii.
Attract pollinators
iii.
Produce seeds
b. Parts of the Flower.
i.
Petal: colorful, attract bees, butterflies, etc. and provide a platform for pollinators
ii.
Anther: part at the top of the stamen where pollen is actually produced/released
iii.
Filament: supporting structure for the anther
iv.
Stigma: female part of the plant, center of the flower where pollen is received from pollinators,
sticky so it can trap pollen
v.
Style: supporting structure for the stigma
vi.
Ovary: place where eggs are stored before they are fertilized and turned into seeds
vii.
Receptacle: stalk-like part of the flower where the flowers parts grow from
viii.
Sepal: small leaf-like parts of the flower that protect the flower (these are what are covering a
bud before a flower blossoms)

(http://owlsmoorblogs.net/swans/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2016/05/parts-of-a-flower.jpg)

3. Flowers that We Eat

a. What kinds of vegetables can you think of that are flowers of the plant?
b. Broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes (print pictures to pass around)
4. Review ways that certain organisms in nature depend on others for survival (ask class for
examples from our previous classes & others they may know of)
a. How do insects help plants? Nutrient cycle (plants rely on bacteria and worms to decompose
dead plant and animal matter to release nutrients into soil)
b. How do plants help humans? Photosynthesis (humans rely on the byproduct of oxygen to
breathe and plants rely on humans byproduct of CO2)
c.
Symbiotic Relationships: a relationship between two organisms
in which both benefit (more specifically, Mutualism)
5. Process of Pollination/ Plant Reproduction
a. Pollination: movement of pollen from anther stigma of the same flower or another
flower of the same species
1. Flower pollen is produced and released from an anther.
2. Pollen is moved to another flower by the wind or animals (pollinators).
3. Pollen lands on the stigma of a different plant or the same plant.
4. The pollen travels down to the ovary and fertilizes ovules.
5. This fertilization of the allows for fruit to be produced
6. The flower withers away/wilts
7. The ovary becomes a fruit
8. If no pollination occurs, then plants will not be able to grow seeds,
and no other plants will be made the flower will wilt but the plant will
not be harmed
b. Self-pollination: when pollen from the same plant comes into contact with its own pistil
i.
Wind moves pollen for some plants like grass, corn, and wheat that grow so closely together

6. Pollination Basket Activity

a. Have a basket that represents a bee. Each kid will get one of five species of flower (squash
blossom, apple blossom, pea flower, strawberry flower, sweet potato flower).
b. The pollinator will go around and collect pollen from everyone. The pollinator will collect and
distribute pollen back to the students.
c. This activity will demonstrate how flowers must receive pollen from the same species or they will
not be fertilized and they will not produce fruit.
7. Types of Pollinators
a. Pollinator: Any small animal, usually an insect that helps spread the pollen from one plant to
another.
b. moths, bats, butterflies, bees, beetles, flies, hummingbirds (print pictures to show parts that are
used to collect nectar from plants)
i.
Bees:
1. Attracted from color, nectar, sweet smell of flowers
a. Like yellow, blue, and purple flowers, many different kinds of bees so they have a wide variety of
preferences
i.
Bees cannot see the color red
b. Flowers open during the day
2. Honey bee goes to flower to collect nectar/ to eat. It brushes up against the anther and collects
some of the pollen from the flower in the process
a. Honey bees have a proboscis: a long, slender, hairy, tube-like tongue that acts as a food canal
to bring the liquid food (nectar, honey, and water) to the mouth
b. Honey bees have a lot of little hairs on their body that get covered in pollen
c. After getting pollen on their body hairs, the bees may move some of it to a special area on their
hind legs called pollen baskets
3. When the bee visits the next flower, some of the pollen brushes off onto the flower and if it sticks
to the stigma of the flower, pollination will take place. The bee does not make any effort to put
the pollen in the right place - it just happens!

(http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Bees/Images/bee_pollen_macro.jpg)
i.

Bats:
1. Bats are often the main pollinators of desert plants and plants in the tropics.
a. They are responsible for pollinating bananas, cashews, peaches, avocados, mangos and other
tropical fruits and vegetables
2. Bats have very long tongues to collect nectar
3. Bat pollinated flowers are usually white or pale yellow in color and open at night. Why do you
think this is?

a. Cant see well so they are attracted to white flowers that are able to be seen when it is dark
outside
b. Have a strong sense of smell so they pollinate a lot of fruits
ii.
Hummingbirds:
1. Red, orange, purple, red flowers
2. Tubular structures for long beaks
3. Dont need a place to land since they hover in the air while they collect nectar
iii.
Butterflies:
1. A butterfly tastes with its feet. The sweet taste of flower causes the insect to uncoil its
probiscis, which it uses to suck up nectar and other liquids
a. Need a large landing place in order to get nectar, like large, flat bunches
b. Red, orange, yellow, pink, blue flowers
c. Flowers that are open during the day
iv.
These animals/insects get nectar from the plant and the plant gets to reproduce
symbiotic relationship that we talked about in the beginning (mutualism)
b. Where do the seeds go after pollination occurs? In the fruit!
i.
What is a fruit? The part of a flowering plant that has seeds botanical term
ii.
GAME: Fruit or Veggie? Show students pictures of fruits/veggies and see if they can determine
which one they are based on the botanical definition. Technically fruits - avocado, beans,
peapods, corn kernels, cucumbers, grains, nuts, olives, peppers, pumpkin, squash, sunflower
seeds and tomatoes. Technically Vegetables - celery (stem), lettuce (leaves), cauliflower and
broccoli (buds), and beets, carrots and potatoes (roots).
c. We need pollination to occur in order to eat so many of these fruits.
8. How Seeds Are Spread:
a. Before they can grow into new plants, seeds need to leave the seed pod. If all the seeds a plant
produced landed just underneath the parent plant, they would be too crowded, and the
established large plant might not leave them enough light or water for them all to develop
properly.
i.
Wind: Dandelions
ii.
Water: The force of flowing water after rainfall can relocate seeds that have fallen on the
ground.
iii.
Animals
1. Fruit is an attractive food for animals.
2. Animals eat the fruit and drop the seeds on the ground.
3. Squirrels may bury nuts and seeds underground and forget about them
4. Ants carry seeds into their nest, eat just the outside and leave the rest to grow.
5. Even people can spread seeds. For example, if you have a watermelon seed spitting contest.
9. Connect back to life cycle of the plant (summing up)
a. Flowers fruit w/ seeds inside
b. Peas (http://www.saps.org.uk/attachments/article/233/SAPS%20-%20Investigation%20G7.pdf)

c.

pea plant flower

d.
mature pea pod (peas are inside and are the seeds)
e. We started by talking about seeds and are ending by talking about seeds. How do we connect
the dots of the plants life cycle?
i.
Start with a seed in the soil
ii.
Seed germinates and begins to grow
iii.
Roots, stems, and leaves perform jobs so plant can undergo photosynthesis and continue to
grow
iv.
Plant forms a flower
v.
Flower gets pollinated
vi.
Plant forms seeds and fruit
vii.
Seeds get dispersed back into soil

f.

ACTIVITY: Tasting peas and looking at the peas inside the pod.
Evaluation:
Create page on handout so students can match terms/concepts they have learned throughout
the series of presentations with their descriptions.

Resources:
http://www.life.illinois.edu/entomology/pollinators/docs/Pollination%20Activity%20Book.pdf
http://www.pollinatorparadise.com/what_is_pollination.htm
https://www.scribd.com/doc/2538442/Pollination-of-Flowers
http://www.pollinator.org/nappc/PDFs/curriculum.pdf
http://www.avasflowers.net/rhe-stages-of-the-flower-life-cycle
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-blog/fruitvegetable-difference/bgp-20056141