Observation Day 19

On observation day 19, I had noticed that my plant was dying. Throughout the past few days, it has become more and more noticeable. The leaves have started drooping, some have even turned brown and yellow. There are hardly any flowers left on the plant, and the ones that are left are dark yellow and about to fall off. My plant is almost completely dead. The seed pods are begining to harden and turn slightly brown and there are no signs of any new leaves, buds or even flowers beginning to develop.

Observation Day 15

The plant has continued to remain healthy and producing numerous flowers, following the steps of the life cycyle. The plant has grown a bit more each day and more and more flowers continue to bloom. This same process has been continuing over the past 10 days, nothing has really change aside from the number of flowers and height of the plant. The internodes are still getting larger aswell, and are becoming more visible. Young leaves are no longer developing and the constant flow of water through the wick of the plant is helping to keep the soil moist and allowing the Brassica Rapa to grow to its full extent.

Observation Day 10

On Observation day 10 my plant has grown slightly taller once again. There has not been much change from yesterdays observations, however I am noticing that my leaves have began to become dead around the edges. The blades of my leaves have began to wither and slightly droop.


I have noticed that there is only one young leaf left on my plant, as well as only a few buds left, waiting to develop into yellow flowers. Cross pollination using the bee on a stick method is continued, causing my plant to continuously flower beautifully.

The reason for cross pollination:

Each flower contains anthers, which hold sacs of pollen. As bees and other insects rub against the anther (like performed in this experiment) the pollen sticks to their legs. When the insect moves to another flower, the pollen is transferred to the stigma of the new flower (Jenn's flower). Stigmas can be cross-pollinated for three to four days. After pollination, the pistils develop into the embryos of the new seeds. The outside casing of the pistil becomes the seed pod, which contain seeds that will be used to reproduce more Brassica Rapa plants..

The seed pods have not began to form on the Brassica Rapa yet, however they will be coming up soon, as this was the last day of cross-pollination.

Observation Day 9

Day 9 of observations did not differ much from those observations of Day 8, however I began to notice cotyledon appearing at the bottom of my plant. As the life cycle continues, these will begin to wither. More flowers have grown and sprouted, even though they were removed from my plant yesterday. The leaves are continuing to look healthy and green, along with the auxiliary buds and flowers.

The epidermis of my plant appears to be fairly healthy and looking great. I am still noticing that the leaves of my plant are still closely resembling those of an oak tree. The internodes have became larger due to the height increase, which caused the epidermis to grow, and the nodes to become farther apart.

Cross pollination began today in order to create a real life situation of a plant. A bee was glued to a skewer for this process and the pollen from my plant was transferred to my partners plant, and vise versa.

Observation Day 8

After leaving my plant for the long weekend, when I returned to school I had a great surprise. My plant was now significantly taller, with numerous axillary buds as well as healthy yellow flowers in the process of blooming. The Brassica Rapa has developed nodes that are very noticable, along with internodes; the space between nodes. My plant measured to be about 12 cm in height, which is a great change in comparison to the previous measurements of 4cm & 5cm. According to instructions by Mr Dunne, all yellow flowers that were visible were plucked off from my plant aswell as the axillary buds. This was done to help make my plant live longer by conserving its energy. My Brassica Rapa is still looking very healthy and is continuing its life cycle.

*Many of my classmates plants died at this stage in the life cycle.

A wooden stick was placed in the film canister in order to help balance the plant and allow it to stay upright.

Observation Day 7

My plant has grown even more since the last observation day. No buds or flowers have appeared yet, however the shoot tip at the top of the plant is now distinct and noticeable which may mean that flowers may soon be coming. There now appears to be 4 developing, healthy leaves on my Brassica Rapa displaying some signs of net venation, as you are able to see the ridges of the veins, scattered throughout the leaf blade.

Observation Day 6

The stem of my plant has grown, causing my Brassica Rapa to increase in height due to the primary growth cycle of a plant. It appears that it has began to struggle to support its own weight. A wooden skewer may have to soon be put in place in order to re-enforce the plant. The leaves have also grown and continue to look healthy. The "middle" leaves are now at the tip of the plant, and have surpassed the height, as well as size, of the round outside leaves.