How pollination helps plants make seeds — Science, 7–10 years
Flowers need pollen to make seeds, but the pollen must reach the right part of a flower. Bees, wind and other helpers can move it.
The idea
Inside a flower, pollen carries the tiny part needed to start a seed. Pollination happens when pollen moves from one flower's male part to the sticky female part, often with help from an insect or the wind. After that, a seed can begin to grow.
Why it matters
A plant cannot usually walk to another plant and exchange pollen by itself. Pollination solves this problem by using moving helpers such as bees, butterflies, birds or wind. It lets plants make seeds, so new plants can grow and the species can continue.
A worked example
An apple flower opens in spring. First, a bee visits a flower and pollen sticks to its hairy body. Next, the bee visits another apple flower and some pollen sticks to its sticky female part. The flower then forms a seed inside the developing apple.
The common trap
It is easy to think that a flower's colourful petals are the seeds, because both are connected with new plants. They are not: petals attract helpers, pollen is moved between flowers, and a seed develops later. A flower may also be pollinated without making a fruit that we notice.
Where it is used
Fruit growers depend on pollination to grow apples, pears, strawberries and many other foods. Some place beehives near orchards, while others use a small brush to move pollen between flowers. Protecting pollinators matters because fewer helpers can mean fewer fruits and seeds.
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