• Bunches of daffodils
• White A3 card or paper
• Pencils
• Daffodil bulbs growing in pots
• Shallot or onion
• 2 litre pots
• Peat-free, multi-purpose compost
• Shallot bulbs

How do plants reproduce? Discuss pupils’ answers and then show daffodil plants or images of daffodils. How can daffodils reproduce? (See additional notes for more information.)

Please note: the main teaching points during this activity should be adapted according to the age of the pupils.

• Give each pupil or group a flowering daffodil stem. Encourage them to carefully dissect the flower head and identify the different parts of the flower necessary for pollination and fertilisation including: anther, filament, stigma, petal, ovule, style and ovary.
• Can they find where the seeds are stored? When daffodil flowers die back, the tiny black seeds are dry. They fall to the ground or are transported by wind or animals to a new location.
• Pupils draw the dissected daffodils and label their drawings.
• If appropriate to age group, establish that reproduction via seeds is a type of sexual reproduction, but that many plants also have the capacity to reproduce asexually.
• Daffodils primarily reproduce via asexual reproduction and their bulbs play a crucial role in this process. Explain that bulbs are underground storage structures that contain all the necessary energy to produce a new plant. Roots are produced from the bottom of the bulb and shoots are produced from layers within the bulb. Over time, the original bulb produces offsets of daughter bulbs around its base that are genetically identical to the parent bulb. As new bulbs mature, they eventually become separate entities from the parent bulb. Bulb division allows daffodils to spread and create new plants.
• Cut a daffodil bulb in half so that pupils can see a cross section of the layers inside. What do the layers remind them of? Make a connection to onions; the bulbs of another plant.
• Cut open a shallot or an onion and allow pupils to observe the similarities and differences. (e.g. both grow underground and are made up of layers. Onions are larger and have a rounder shape than daffodils. They are usually lighter in colour too.)
• Pupils draw the bulbs and label their drawings.

Plenary

Explain that the appropriate time of year to plant daffodil bulbs is autumn as they flower in March. If necessary, introduce them to the bulb/species that are appropriate to plant at this time of year. Pupils plant a bulb in a pot to take home. Keep the soil moist but not too wet and it should start to sprout within a few weeks.

Assessment questions

• How can a plant make seeds?
• How can a plant make bulbs?
• Why do you think some plants have evolved to reproduce two ways - using seeds and bulbs?

Many plants, including daffodils and members of the Allium family (onions, garlics, shallots), have the capacity to reproduce sexually (via the processes of pollination, fertilisation and seed production) and asexually. Sexual reproduction leads to genetic variation, whereas asexual reproduction creates new plants that are genetically identical to the parent plant. In horticulture, asexual reproduction is also known as vegetative reproduction. It occurs when a new plant grows from a part of the parent plant.

Here are some suggestions for bulbs that can be planted at different times of year

• Autumn: daffodils or tulips  
• Spring: onions or shallots  
• Summer: nerines