From massive redwoods to garden daisies to tall field grasses, plants are endlessly diverse. They come in every shape, size and color imaginable, and every plant has its own growth pattern, soil needs, location preference and life span. No matter how different they can be, however, all plants share the same basic life cycle. Does this Spark an idea?
Function
The function of every plant is to provide a food source and shelter for animals, to add vital oxygen to the air and to reproduce. Since plants cannot move, they have a complex system in place to aid with reproduction. Every stage of a plant's life cycle is geared toward the eventual passing down of its genetic material, ensuring the survival of its species.
Beginnings
Every flowering plant begins with a seed. Inside the seed's hard, protective shell is a tiny dormant plant embryo. The embryo is surrounded by a thick, starchy material that it will use as food once it germinates.
Germination
If deposited in a favorable location at the right time, once a seed receives the right amount of light, warmth and moisture it comes out of dormancy and germinates. Its first root--called a radicle--emerges and burrows into the ground to seek moisture, and its embryonic shoot grows upward out of the soil.
Primary Growth
If conditions continue favorably, the shoot grows into a stem and produces a primary set of leaves, which may look very different from the mature plant's leaves. Once these leaves unfurl, the plant it is able to use sunlight to make its own food. It is no longer reliant on the food stores inside the seed.
Maturity
When a flowering plant reaches maturity, it is able to reproduce. Each flower the plant grows contains the female and male parts necessary for fertilization. The male part is a slender rod called the anther, which is capped by a pod-like chamber where pollen is produced. The female part of a flower is the pistil. It has a sticky, bulbous part at its tip called the stigma and contains the ovary and unfertilized egg in its base.
Fertilization and Seed Production
Each pollen grain contains sperm cells. Pollen is carried from plant to plant by wind and animal pollinators. When a grain of pollen from the flower of one plant lands on the sticky stigma of the flower of another plant (of the same species), its sperm cells travel down the pistil to meet the egg, fertilizing it. This fertilization produces a seed, which can be held within the flower or encased in a fruit. Eventually, when the flower or fruit dies or is eaten, the seeds disperse and grow into new plants.
Non-Flowering Plants
Non-flowering plants germinate and grow in ways very similar to flowering plants. The difference is in their reproductive process. Some, like pine trees, produce male and female cones instead of flowers, through which pollen is passed. Others, like ferns, produce spores that are carried off by the wind to germinate elsewhere.
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