Partners in Pollination Ultimately, all life on Earth depends on plants to provide food, shelter, and oxygen for other living things. Consequently, plant reproduction is crucial to all other life on this planet. The first step in plant reproduction is the intricate process called pollination , which occurs when pollen grains, the male germ cell of a plant, reach the stigma , the female reproductive part of the same species of plant. Depending on the plant species, a flower can produce male, female, or both structures.
Pollination can also occur within the same flower.
The remaining flowering plants rely on wind and some-times splashing raindrops to ferry pollen, but this is a less precise method. These lessons are adapted from Smithsonian in Your Classroom . Publication of Smithsonian in Your Classroom is made possible through the generous support of the Pacific Life Foundation. Click here for help if text and graphics misalign on this page.