Process of Sexual Reproduction

The process of sexual reproduction takes place by the fusion of male and female gametes of opposite sex that help in the formation of young individuals. The male part form pollen and the female part form egg and the fusion of male and female part formed zygote. Zygote then turn into embryo and embryo will turn into seed and then seed will form a new plant. So, let’s talk about each part that take place in reproduction process.

Male Gametophyte or Androecium

Inside the corolla of flowers, we have stamens. The whorl or collective formation of stamens formed androecium. Stamen consist of two parts: one is the anther, and the other is a single-veined stalk or filament. The point that connects the anther and filament is called the connective. A common anther has two lobes, but some have a single lobe. So, it is dithicus, and each lobe has two pollen chambers (pollen sacs). It means there are two four-pollen sacs, and an anther with four pollen chambers is called tetrasporangiate. The pollen chambers have pollen mother cells that form pollen grains, and these are diploid. The male gamete is formed by meiosis. In meiosis, four new cells form that are haploid in nature. The new haploid that forms is called a microspore. These pollen grains are the tiny particles from which we get the male gametophyte (micro-gametophyte). Typically, one pollen grain contains two male gametes.

Female Gametophyte or Gynoecium

The reproductive part of a female is located at its centre, called the carpel. A flower can have one or more than one carpel. These carpels can be separated or united in nature. Here we have a separate carpel in the figure. The upper part of the carpel is called the stigma. Stigma is a sticky or hairy surface that captures the pollen grain. Beside this stigma, we have a tube-like structure called style. The style is a hollow structure from the inside. At last, we have seen a spherical part, which is the ovary. It is located at the base of each carpel. So, we have three basic parts in a Gynoecium stigma, style and ovary.

Sexual reproduction in plants is a natural process in which the gamete or sex cell of parents fuses to form a zygote that obtains a new individual. The reproductive organs of plants are located inside the flower. So, we can say that plants make flowers to do sexual reproduction inside them and to safeguard their reproductive parts. The flower is the structural unit for sexual reproduction in plants. Sexual reproduction promotes genetic diversity in a population as the genes of parents are transferred to offspring and mixed during fertilization. The flower is an angiosperm that does sexual reproduction in plants.