Reproduction in Plants

Asexual reproduction in plants is when plants grow from plant parts.
eg. leaf buds, bulbs, corms, tubers, suckers

Advantages of asexual reproduction:

• grows faster
• adapt well to the existing environment.

Disadvantages of asexual reproduction:

• unable to move to new location
• has the same characterisitics as parents.

Flowers are the reproduction part of a flowering plant and its function is to produce seeds.

After fertilisation, portions of the flower develop into a fruit containing seeds.

Pollination

Fertilisation

Formation and Development of Seeds

Sepal is the green part that protect a flower bud before it opens.

Sepals protect and support the petals.

Petals attract insects and signals that there is nectar in the flower.

Stamen is the male reproductive part that produce pollen grains.

Pistil is the female reproductive part that has unfertilised seeds.

(cross section of the flower)

Stigma - small, sticky pad where pollen grains stick to.

Style - a tube where the pollen grains go down towards the ovary.

Ovary - contains the embryo which grow into seeds once fertilised.

Filament - a slender stem that supports the anther.

Anther - contains plooen sacs where pollen grains are formed.

Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the anthers to the stigma.

Fertilisation is the fusion of nuclei fromt he pollen grain to the stigma.

Methods of pollination:

• Wind
• Insects and Animals

Advantages of seeds dispersal:

• Improving chances of success by reducing compeition and overcrowding.
• enables colonisation of new suitable habitats - increased chance of species survival

Methods of seeds dispersal:

• Water
• Wind
• Animal
• Splitting and Explosive action

Seed dispersal by wind :

• Wing-like structure which has high air resistance

eg. angsana, shorea

• light

eg. grass

• fine hair to enable them to float

eg. lalang

Seed dispersal by water :

• have fibrous fruits and seeds
• can float on water

Seed dispersal by animal :

• seeds which are sticky or have little hooks.

eg. love grass, mimosa

• fleshy and juicy fruits

eg. tomato, guava, rambutan, durain, nuts

Seed dispersal by splitting :

• split open without explosive action

eg. african tulip and kapok

• split open with explosive action

eg. balsam and rubber

Germination takes place in the presence of:

• Water
• Oxygen
• Warmth

Methods of natural vegetative propogation:

1. Leaf buds

eg. bryophyllum begonia

2. Bulbs

eg. onion, garlic

3. Corms

eg. water chestnut

4. Tubers

eg. potato

5. Suckers

eg. banana, pineapple, heliconia

Reported Speech

Rules to follow:

1. Do not change the tense if the introductory verb is in the present tense.

eg. He says," I am tired."
He says that he is tired.

2. Change the tense if the introductory verb is in the past tense.

eg. He said," I am sick."
He said that he was sick.

3. Do not change the tense if the statement expresses a general truth or when the action is still on-going.

eg. Tim explained, "Water is in the liquid state."
Tim explained that water is in the liquid state.

4. Change the following words:

now - then
today - on that day
tomorrow - the next day
yesterday - the previous day
next week - the following week
last week - the previous week
ago - before
here - there
this/ these - that/ those

Passive Voice

Passive Voice is used when we want to show that the action is more important than the person doing it.

eg. The victims were taken care to the hospital.

It is also used when we do not know who did it.

eg. My handphone was stolen last night.

Each Other vs. One Other

Each other is used to refer to two persons.

eg. Tom and Jane love each other very much.

One another is used to refer to more than two person.

eg. The group members blamed one another for the mistake.

Unless

'Unless' has the same meaning as 'if...not'.

eg. I will not buy you a Bakugan if you do not do your work.

I will not buy you a Bakugan unless you do your work.
Unless you do your work, I will not buy you a Bakugan.

We use 'unless' to warn about the result of NOT doing something.

eg. Unless you are sick, you have to got o school.
You have to go to school unless you are sick.

We use present tense in the sentence.

Writing - A Difficult Chore

Many children like to talk. They like to tell about what they saw and did, but they hate writing about it. It could probably be due to the fact that they lack the vocabulary and cannot spell. Thus, writing it out becomes difficult. When writing, they cannot 'cheat' by just using words like 'this one' and 'that one'. They have to use the correct vocabulary so that we can truly understand what they are tryng to say.

I hated writing too. There was no reason to write because no one cared what i truly experienced and how I felt. The only times when I wrote were in school, having to do compositions. It was only when I was in Secondary Two when I finally found the reason to write.

My grandfather passed away.

My school Chinese teacher happened to ask the class to write about the person whom I will never forget. I wrote about my late grandfather. I wrote about how I have hated him and how he had treated me while he was alive. I wrote about how I regretted they way I had treated him because deep in my heart, I knew that he cared for me. The composition was very long and I cried while writing about it.

When I gotback my composition from my teacher. There was only a line of words below - Out of Point!. I did not feel sad about it because it was always the case. However, this time was different. My teacher made me stayed behind after class. She told me that it was the best piece of work that I have done. The story was so touching and it made her cry, but it was out of point. (I still don't understand why, but nevermind.)

I finally realised that I need to touch the hearts of the reader when I write. Subsequently, another English teacher taught me to use 'Feelings, Actions and Thoughts'. From then, I write better stories and I enjoy writing my experiences. Who cares about writing compositions in school! I always pretend to be the person in the story when my teachers told me to write. I will write about my own feelings and actions. This is what really matters and makes my compositions different from others.

If you like to read my blog on my children, drop me a note. I'll try to write more about them.

Learning about Plants

'Plants' is an interesting and yet difficult to learn topic. It is difficult because we have taken plants for granted.Plants are found everywhere around us but we do not take time to look at them individually and find out more about them. they do not move around to attract our attention like animals, but 'stand' there, providing what we all need, oxygen, to breathe.

Raintree is an umbrella-like tree that is planted commonly along the roads to provide shade for us. It has compound leaves that respond to the sunlight. During the day, the leaves of the raintree will slowly up. And as the sun sets, the leaves will slowly close up.

I have taken pictures of the raintree at different times of the day. Hopefully, you can see how the leaves respond to the sunlight.