Pollination helps plants make seeds — Biology, 7–10 years
Pollen must travel from one flower part to another before many plants can make seeds. Wind and animals, especially insects, often carry it.
The journey of pollen
Inside a flower, pollen is made in one part and must reach another part before seeds can begin to form. Bees, butterflies, birds, or the wind may carry the tiny grains. This movement is called pollination.
Why pollen needs a lift
A flower cannot walk to another flower, yet its pollen often needs to travel. Pollination solves this problem by using wind or visiting animals as carriers. Flowers may offer nectar or have bright colours and smells to attract them.
A bee visits two flowers
1. A bee lands on a yellow flower to collect nectar. 2. Pollen sticks to its hairy body. 3. The bee flies to a second flower and some pollen rubs off on its female part. 4. That flower can now begin making seeds. The bee was not trying to plant seeds; it was simply looking for food.
Pollen is not a seed
It is easy to call any tiny yellow powder a seed because both are linked to new plants. But pollen is made by a flower and must travel first; a seed forms later and contains a young plant with stored food. A seed can grow in soil, while pollen cannot do that by itself.
Pollination in our food
Many apple, pear, strawberry, and tomato plants need flowers to be pollinated before they make fruit and seeds. Farmers may place beehives near orchards, and some crops are pollinated by hand. This is useful only where those plants need pollination; not every crop depends on bees.
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