How do flowers make seeds?

Plant a tiny seed and one day a whole flower grows. But where did that seed come from? The answer is that flowers make their own seeds, using a little help from busy friends and the wind.

Pollen is the magic dust

Inside a flower is a fine yellow powder called pollen. For a flower to make a seed, pollen usually travels from one flower to another flower of the same kind. This special trip is called pollination.

Bees, butterflies, and the wind

How does the pollen travel? Often a bee or butterfly does the job. As it sips sweet nectar, pollen sticks to its fuzzy body, and it carries that pollen to the next flower. For some plants, the wind does the work instead, blowing the pollen through the air like dust.

From flower to seed

When the pollen reaches the right part of a new flower, the flower can begin to grow its seeds. Often the seeds sit safe inside a fruit, like the pips in an apple. Later the seeds fall to the ground, and each one can sprout into a brand-new plant. The whole cycle starts all over again!

Wonder fact: A single sunflower head can hold over 1,000 seeds, all made after the bees came to visit!