Download Cones Are Like Flowers Questions

Name
Cones Are Like Flowers
By Cindy Grigg
Some trees have cones
on them. Pine, fir, and
spruce trees have cones.
Cones don't look very
much like flowers, do
they? Flowers have petals
that are pretty colors.
Cones are usually hard and
brown. But flowers and
cones are more alike than
you might think.
How do plants make more plants? Plants make seeds. Seeds grow
into new plants. Flowers and cones both make seeds.
Seeds grow from flowers. How does this happen? First, flowers
make a yellow powder called pollen. Pollen looks like yellow dust.
We call the pollen the "male" part of the flower. Pollen must move
to the "female" part of the flower to make fruit and seeds. This is
called pollination.
You can see the seeds inside fruit. Fruit helps protect the seeds as
they grow. You probably have seen seeds inside apples and oranges.
These are two kinds of fruit that people eat. Sunflower seeds are
something people eat, too.
Some plants make flowers. Many flowers have both male and
female parts. After pollination, the male and female parts join
together. A fruit will grow. Inside the fruit will be seeds that can
grow into a new plant.
Orange trees make flowers. After pollination, the flowers grow
into the oranges that we eat. Inside the oranges are seeds. If the
seeds are planted, new orange trees will grow. Apple trees grow
from apple seed. Sunflowers grow from sunflower seed.
Most trees with cones have leaves shaped like needles. These
trees usually keep their leaves all year. The needles stay green all
year, too. Trees that have cones are called conifers.
Conifers do not make flowers to grow new seeds. They make
seeds inside the woody cones. Cones are like flowers. All conifers
have two kinds of cones. We say they have male and female cones.
Some cones have pollen. They are the male cones. Some cones are
seed cones. We call these the female cones. Both kinds of cones
usually grow on the same tree.
Most flowers have both male and female parts on one flower.
But conifers have male parts in one cone and female parts in another
cone.
Pollen cones are smaller than seed cones. Wind blows the pollen
into the air. Some of the pollen reaches the seed cones on the same
tree. Some pollen blows farther away and lands on other trees. If the
pollen lands on a seed cone, then pollination occurs. Then new
seeds grow inside the seed cones. Cones do not make fruit around
their seeds.
When the seeds are fully formed, they fall from the cones. If they
fall on a place that has everything they need to grow, they grow into
new trees right away. If they fall where there is not good soil or
enough water, the seed might wait for years until it begins to grow
into a new tree.
Cones Are Like Flowers
Questions
1. How are flowers and cones alike?
8. Pollination must take place before seeds can be made.
A. true
B. false
Name
2. Seeds grow into new ______.
A. cones
B. flowers
C. plants
3. What is pollination?
A. when pollen moves from the male part to the female part
of a flower
B. when pollen moves from a male cone to a female cone
C. both A and B
4. After pollination, what happens?
A. The plant makes seeds.
B. The plant dies.
C. The plant always makes fruit.
5. Most flowers have both male and female parts on one flower.
How are cones different?
6. Male and female cones look different because ______.
A. Male cones are yellow and female cones are brown.
B. Male cones are smaller than the female seed cones.
C. Female seed cones are smaller than male pollen cones.
7. Cones and flowers are alike because they both make seeds.
A. false
B. true
9. Trees with cones are called ______.
A. pine trees
B. needle trees
C. conifers
10. Trees that make cones usually lose their leaves in the fall.
A. false
B. true
Write five sentences telling facts about flowers.
Name
Tell how flowers and cones are alike. Use details from the story to
explain.