Katie Inman Blog Post #7

This is the flower that my partner and I collected from the garden. It is from the brassica family and is a mature flower. Plants reproduce in a similar way that humans do, with male and female reproductive organs. Although not all plants are just male or female, some are both. In this brassica flower, it is both male and female which means it includes both genders gametes.

 These four pictures are showing anthers(yellow) which are connected to the stamen(green). Inside of the anthers are mircosporangium. Microsporangium is a sporangium which gives out spores that then become the male gametophytes. When the plant begins to flower, the microsporangia make microsporocyte, which then splits into 4 more cells through meiosis. Then through mitosis the microspores become pollen grains.  The pollen grains are the male gametophytes and when matured enough they become less attached to the anthers and are ready to continue in fertilizing the the female gametophytes.

 This picture is showing the pistil and at the top is  stigma which is the entrance for the pollen grain to the ovary. When the pollen grain or sperm germinate on the stigma it absorbs water and nutrients, opening a small pollen tube that goes through the style and into the ovary. Once the sperm reaches the ovaries it fertilizes the ovule creating diploid cell with a set of chromosomes from the mother(egg) and father(pollen)

Here we see the eggs or ovules inside the ovary. This is before they are fertilized. When they become fertilized the ovule becomes a zygote. A seed then develops from each ovule. In each seed their is a new sporophyte or embryo covered by a layer of tissues and a supply of food.  Then when the ovary walls become denser and the fruit that comes from the particular plant begins to form around the seed. When given the proper conditions the seed will begin to grow or germinate. It will begin to use photosynthesis once ready and until then it uses the food supply. After this it has completed the circle of life and the process will repeat over and over again

EXTRA: Using a compound microscope my partner and I took a picture of the male gametophytes/sperm/pollen.