Female Reproductive Structures and Embryogenesis

As biologists, we can highly appreciate the events leading up to the formation of new generations of individuals through the process of reproduction. It is even possible to see similarities between our own human anatomical events in the process and that of flowering plants. In both cases, an embryo is initiated by union of egg and sperm cells, the embryo is housed in a protective and ripening organ, and nutrition is provided by specialized nearby tissue. Of course, plants also have their own unique developmental procedures including double fertilization, formation of endosperm, seed development, and most young plant formation taking place outside of the maternal structures. This chapter focuses on the female parts of flowers, the gynoecium, and guides the reader in the development of megaspores, leading to the formation of the megagametophyte. The chapter includes the concepts of double fertilization and embryo development.