At this point let’s keep things simple. The life history of flowering plants is similar to the ferns. Both have an alternation between sporophyte and gametophyte generations. Remember, ferns release their spores into the environment. Flowering plants release their male spores (pollen) into the environment, but retain their female spores. The female gametophyte produces an egg which will get fertilized. The zygote develops into the next generation of sporophyte. This next generation of sporophyte (the embryo) develops within a seed which is initally on the parent sporophyte.
Here is a picture of a chalkboard drawing that compares the life histories of a fern (top) and a flowering plant (bottom). Note that they are very similar.
FLOWERING PLANT LIFE HISTORY – the cartoon
We will be looking at this later in the term….just get the basic idea for now.
HINT: Expand the browser window so you can see the notes below the diagrams.