Lesson 3 of 6

Fertilisation in plants

Goal: Describe fertilisation in a flowering plant.

Puzzles for this lesson

After pollination, a pollen tube grows down to an ovule. There a male nucleus joins with a female nucleus. That is fertilisation.

Pollination comes first. It only puts the pollen grain on the stigma.
A pollen tube grows out of the grain, down the style and into an ovule. The male nucleus travels down it.
Fertilisation is the joining of the two nuclei. The fertilised ovule then grows into a seed.

Your turn

This lesson’s activity starts here in a moment.

I can describe the pollen tube growing to the ovule.I can say that two nuclei join.

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Stigma The sticky tip where pollen lands

Style The stalk that joins the stigma to the ovary

Ovule Contains a female sex cell. If it is fertilised, it becomes a seed

Pollen Grains that contain the male sex cells

Pollination The transfer of pollen from an anther to a stigma

Pollen tube Grows from a pollen grain down the style to an ovule

Fertilisation The joining of a male nucleus and a female nucleus

Seed Contains the embryo of a new plant and a food store

For teachers: AQA 3.9.2