Blog Post #7- Anthers and Stigmas and Styles, Oh My! By Benjamin Buran

         Fertilization is the primary way for a plant to reproduce. The main element in fertilization is actually pollen, which most often is brought to a plant from the wind or an insect such as a butterfly. The origin for pollen in fertilization is at the anther, that section of a plant that holds pollen. The pollen is then transferred to the stigma(a part of the pistil which is the female segments of the flower). Flowers such as the Brassica oleracea, have both the male and female parts to reproduce. In the stigma, there is a tube that leads down to the ovary which in turn, has the ovules, and the eggs. The pollen and an ovule must combine together to create a seed. So in arbitrary, the pollen starts at the top of the flower on the anthers. It transfers to the stigma and travels down the tube. When it reaches an ovule, it bursts and two male gametes are released. One gamete blends with the egg and the other does so with the polar nuclei (cells in the embryo sack of the plant).




















This is the plant that we acquired our flower from. It would be the final product of multiple steps in the process of plant reproduction including fertilization and pollination. These flowers would be attractive to bees that would lead pollen on the petals and anthers of plants. The anthers contain all the pollen that would be used during fertilization. Through this, the plant would produce various seeds that would spread out over multiple areas and the begin the entire development again.



This close up picture shows multiple different areas of the flower. The main parts are the petals, filament, anthers, style, sigma, and the ovary. The focus is to spot the overall anatomy of the plant and see how the different parts in each part of fertilization come together and make sense. A critical detail would be how the anthers are very close to the stigma so it can take in pollen and produce seeds.




















The focus of this picture is to display the relationship between the stigma and the anthers of the flower. The stigma is the green-yellow stem in the middle with the yellow bulb that contains pollen. The anthers are the white-yellow stems with yellow blades of grass covering it. One of the very first steps in fertilization is the transferring of pollen from the anther to the stigma. That is why they are so close together. This make pollen travel a lot quicker. You can also spot how there is a tube for pollen to go down to the stigma. This stem where the tube is connects to the ovaries.




This microscopic picture shows the ovaries and the ovules. Although it is hard to see, it is the inside of the flowers stigma! This includes the tube that transports pollen, and where the ovary holds the ovules. Inside the stem, you can sort of see the gray eggs(ovules). These ovules mix with the pollen to create the seed that would grow up to be a larger plant like the one we took this flower from.





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