Pick the Pollinator
- By Rima Chaddha
- Posted 04.17.07
- NOVA
Flowering plants represent about one-sixth of all Earth's known living life-forms. How did these immobile organisms manage to spread so far? One answer is pollination, or plant sexual reproduction. Pollinators—typically wind, water, and animals—carry pollen from one flower to another. In this game, match seven plants with their pollinators and learn why flowering plants have come to dominate the botanical world.
Test your knowledge of how insects, birds, and other pollinators help flowering plants flourish.
This feature originally appeared on the site for the NOVA program First Flower.
Credits
Images
- (all illustrations)
- © NOVA/WGBH Educational Foundation
- (fuchsia)
- wikipedia.org
- (goldenrod)
- © Steve Matson
- (comet orchid)
- Courtesy Larsen Twins Orchid
- (violet flower)
- © David G. Smith/www.delawarewildflowers.org
- (violet bud)
- © Don Wiss
- (wild celery)
- © Seth McGee/University of Wisconsin-Biocore
- (corpse flower)
- Courtesy U.S. Botanical Garden
- (baobab)
- Courtesy USGS
Related Links
-
Flowers Modern & Ancient
How does a 125 million-year-old angiosperm measure up to a lily of today?
-
First Flower
Learn how to isolate DNA from bananas.
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