In this topic you will learn about how plants grow and reproduce.

The stages in a plant's life cycle are similar to those in an animal's life cycle. A plant begins life, grows and develops, reproduces, and dies.

A seed is a tiny capsule that contains a plant embryo. An embryo is a young organism that is just beginning to grow. Each seed contains food for the embryo to use as it grows.

Seeds germinate, or begin to grow. Seeds do not always germinate right away. Seeds can wait for months, or even years, until the conditions are right for growth. A seed needs light, water, nutrients, oxygen, and the right temperature to germinate.

Most plants make seeds, like the pea plant. There are two main groups of plants that reproduce by making seeds. Flowering plants are plants that produce seeds after they produce flowers. Most plants in the world are flowering plants. Conifers are trees that produce seeds inside of cones.

Flowers can have male parts and female parts. The female parts make eggs that become seeds. The male part contains pollen. Pollen is a powder that is needed by the egg to make seeds. To make seeds, pollen and eggs must come together. The wind, insects, and birds bring pollen to eggs.

Pine trees have two kinds of cones: small pollen cones and large seed cones. Wind blows pollen from the small cones to the large ones. When pollen attaches to the large cone, a seed is made.

Plants can reproduce in other ways, too. A fern uses spores to reproduce. Spores only need light, water, and nutrients to grow. Some plants can grow from cuttings, which are pieces of the plant that have been cut off. A bulb is an underground stem covered with leaves that can grow a new plant just like the parent plant. A tuber is an underground stem that produces new plants that are just like the parent plants.