Where Are Seeds Formed Inside a Flower?

Flowers do more than look and smell nice.

A flower's sole purpose is to help a plant reproduce itself. Various insects, other animals or wind carry pollen from one flower to another, aiding in fertilization. Once deposited in a flower, pollen helps it to create a seed.

Ovules and Fertilization I

The sticky top of the pistil traps pollen.

Flowers produce eggs and pollen, the reproductive cells of plants. Located in the deep center of a flower is its ovary, which contains eggs or ovules. When a pollen grain reaches a flower's pistil--a tube that holds the plant's female parts--it grows a thin tube down to the ovary. Sperm from the pollen grain combines with an ovule and the ovule becomes a seed, in a process called fertilization.

Ovules and Fertilization II

North Carolina State University's website notes that ovules contain endosperm, a tissue that grows after fertilization and provides nutrients to the plant embryo in the seed. The outside of the ovule becomes a "seed coat," a hardened covering that protects the plant embryo.

Flower After Fertilization

A dried sunflower shows its seeds.

After fertilization, a flower dries, its petals drop, the top of the pistil falls off and the ovary swells as a seed or seeds form inside it. After its ovules are fertilized, the ovary becomes the plant's fruit.

References

• University of Illinois Extension: The Great Plant Escape--Plant Parts
• Arizona Cooperative Extension: Master Gardener Manual
• North Carolina State University: Bio 183 Laboratory
• Northern Michigan University: How Plants Are Grouped

Resources

• Marietta College: Reproduction of Flowering Plants: From Flowers to Fruits