Download Plant Love

Plant Love
Essential Question: How do plants reproduce?
Hypothesis: If I carefully dissect my flowers, then I will be able to identify the differences
between monocot and dicot plants.
Procedure:
1. Flowering plants are generally in one of two groups, monocots or dicots. Monocots are
plants that have leaves with parallel veins, flowers with petals, sepals, and stamen in
multiples of three. Dicots have leaves with branching veins, flowers with petals, sepals,
and stamen in multiples of four or five. With your lab partner(s), get one of each of the
two flowers from the containers of flowers. In the data section of your lab write-up,
sketch each flower (include as much detail as you can).
2. Count and record, in the data table, the number of petals on each flower. Petals are the
colorful outer leaf-like structures of the flower that attract bees and birds to the plant.
Hummingbirds are attracted to red petals while bees are usually more attracted to purple
or yellow petals.
3. Beneath the petals are green colored leaf-like structures called sepals. Sepals help
support the flower when it is open. They also protect the flower when it is just a
developing bud. Count the sepals for each flower and record your results.
4. Look inside the flower. You will see long thing structures sticking up out of the middle of
the flower. CAREFULLY remove the petals and sepals so that the long, thin structures can
be seen more easily.
5. You should see several long, thin structures, with fuzzy looking tops, that surround one
longer, thicker stalk. The surrounding structures are called stamen and are the male
structures for the flower. The fuzzy looking heads are called anthers and contain pollen,
which encloses the sperm cells. Count the number for each flower and record your
results.
6. The tall, thick structure in the middle is called the pistil, and is the female part of the
flower. The star shaped top is called the stigma, and is sticky and collects pollen grains
containing sperm cells. The sperm then works its way down into the much thicker base
called the ovary where it fertilizes the egg.
7. Remove the pistil from the flower, being careful to remove the thick ovary at the bottom.
You may have to remove the stamen as well.
8. Using a scalpel cut the ovary of one of the flowers in half and examine the internal parts
with a hand lens or binocular microscope. Draw what you see in the “Ovary Dissection”
space.
9. Remove one of the stamen and observe the anther under the hand lens or binocular
microscope. Draw some pollen grains in the “Pollen Grains” space provided.
10. Draw one of the leaves from each flower in the “Leaf” box. Notice the “vein” patterns for
the leaves and record your results in the data table.
11. Throw your flowers away, clean your workspace, and return your microscope.
12. Return to your original flower diagram and label the parts of the flowers.
Name:
Period:
Data:
Alstroemeria flower drawing
Flower Comparison Data
Flower Structure
Number of Petals
Number of Stamen
Number of Sepals
Number of Pistils
Leaf Vein Pattern
Kalenchoe flower drawing
Alstroemeria
Ovary Dissection (Alstroemeria)
Kalenchoe
Pollen Grains (Alstroemeria)
Alstroemeria Leaf Drawing
Kalenchoe Leaf Drawing
Analysis:
Part 1 (Using a Double-Bubble): Compare and contrast your two flowers and determine
which is a monocot and which is a dicot. Be sure to use the data you collected to support
your choice.
Part 2 (In a well-written paragraph): Summarize the reproductive process in flowering
plants. Be sure to include stamen, anther, pistil, stigma, ovary, pollen, petal, and sepal in
your summary. Underline stamen, anther, pistil, stigma, ovary, pollen, petal, and sepal.
Conclusion:
Use your rubric
stigma
anther
petal
stamen
pistil
Flower
Anatomy
sepal
ovary