Plant Life Cycle | Primary 4 Science - Geniebook (2024)

In this article, you will be introduced to the concept of the life cycle of flowering plants based on the Singapore Primary 4 Science syllabus. You will also learn about the changes that take place in a plant as it develops, as well as the process of germination.Here is a short recap on plants and their parts.

A plant has roots, stems and leaves.

The roots of a plant help to hold (anchor) the plant firmly to the ground and also absorb water and minerals from the soil.

The stem of a plant helps to connect the roots of the plant to the leaves so that it can transport water from the roots to the rest of the plant. The stem also transports food made by the leaves to all the other parts of the plant.

The leaves of a plant help to trap sunlight (light energy) for the plant during photosynthesis and also allow gaseous exchange with the surroundings.

Life Cycle Of Flowering Plants

The life cycle of a flowering plant describes how the flowering plant develops.

Flowering plants reproduce by seeds and will have a life cycle as shown in the diagram below. Once the flowering plant becomes an adult plant, it will be capable of reproduction.

An adult plant can bear flowers which may develop into fruits after pollination and fertilization (you will learn more about these two processes in Primary 5) have taken place. The fruits contain seeds which will then be dispersed. The germination of seeds takes place when the conditions are favourable.

When there is sufficient water, oxygen and warmth, the seed will start to germinate. Germination occurs when the seed develops into a young plant.

During germination, the roots grow out first to anchor the plant firmly to the ground and also to obtain water for germination. The shootthen starts to develop and is followed by the first leaves.

The young plant depends on the seed leaves for food until the first leaves are mature enough to make sufficient food for it. The seed leaves will shrivel and drop off once the food stored in them is used up.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned about the life cycle of flowering plants. We also explored the changes that take place in a plant as it develops, as well as the process of germination.

Test Your Concepts

Answer the following questions based on the concepts that we have covered in this article. If you are unclear, you may want to revisit the relevant section to revise the concepts.

Question 1:

The graph below shows the change in the mass of the seed leaves of a bean plant over a period of time.

Why did the mass of the seed leaves decrease over time?

Solution:

The seed leaves provided food for the seedling. As food stored in the seed leaves was being used up, the mass of the seed leaves decreased over time.

Explanation:

During germination, the seed depends on the seed leaves for food to develop. As the seedling develops, the seed leaves continue to provide food for the seedling until the seedling has developed leaves that are mature enough to make sufficient food for itself.