Why Do Plants Have Seeds?
To get at this subject in the best manner we must study first how plants produce seeds and what happens. The power in a plant to make another plant like it grow comes from the flower. Ordinarily we think of the flowers as beautiful to look at and delightful to smell, but the flowers do not grow for the mere purpose of being beautiful, but are for a more useful purpose—to develop a seed which, when planted, will produce another plant. The machinery for producing a perfect seed is in the flower or blossom. Every flower has a definite plan of construction. The leaves and colors vary, but the plan for a perfect flower is always there. The petals which are generally colored are called the crown. When you pluck off the petals you see a number of green leaves at the bottom where the petals were attached. These form what is called the calyx, and help to hold the petals in place. Inside the flower are little stems which grow to the petals. These are called stamens. Every one of these little stems is hollow, and if you split one open you will discover a fine powder. This powder is called pollen, and is the “father” nature of the plant. In the calyx, the part we had left after we plucked off the petals, is the “mother” nature of the plant. The main part of the mother nature is the stem of the flower called the ovary, and this is where the seeds grow. These seeds in the ovary, however, will not become perfect seeds unless some of the pollen from the “father” nature of the plant touches them and fertilizes them.
At the proper age of the flower some of this pollen powder passes into the ovary and fertilizes the seeds and makes them good seeds. This is only one kind of flower, however. In this kind the father and mother natures are in the same flower. In other kinds of plants the father and mother natures are found on different parts of the same plant.