Question

Do flowering plants reproduce sexually or asexually?

Answer 1

Reproduction in flowering plants:

1. Flower also known as blossom or bloom is the reproductive composition found in all the flowering plants.
2. Flowers are the most essential component of flowering plants, which goes through the process of reproduction by both sexual and asexual means.
3. The biological process by which novel individual organisms, that is, offspring are produced from their parent or parents is termed reproduction.

Sexual Reproduction :

1. A flower comprises both male and female reproductive organs, the complete flower comprises sepals, petals, pistil, that is, the female reproductive part, and stamens, the male reproductive part.
2. In a flowering plant, the process of sexual reproduction takes place through an array of processes and it initiates with the generation of male and female gametes, pollination, followed by fertilization, generation of the zygote, and the ovary, that is fruit formation. For example, papaya, watermelon, etc.

Asexual Reproduction :

1. In some flowering plants, the process of asexual reproduction also takes place, that is, the plants directly grow and develop from the buds, which are found on the stem surface. Some of the methods of asexual reproduction in flowering plants are:

• Grafting: It is a process of joining two parts from two or more plants so that they seem to grow as a single plant. For example, roses and peaches.
• Layering: It is a method, in which a plant branch is covered with some substance and supplied with water to generate roots. For example, climbing roses, azalea, etc.
• Vegetative propagation: It is a kind of asexual reproduction, which generates progeny by any vegetative propagules, that is, tubers, rhizomes, etc. without the formation of gametes and fertilization of male and female gametes. For example, the rhizome of ginger, tuber of potato, etc.
• Micropropagation: It is a tissue culture technique in which tissue is taken from a plant and grown in a laboratory to generate plantlets, which are genetically identical to the parent. For example, rubber trees, pine, tomatoes, etc.