NCERT Solutions Curiosity Chapter 10 .4 Life Cycle of a Plant — Activity 10.4: Let us explore

Book page 194 & 19510 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.

How long does it take for any change to occur? Make sketches of various changes that you observe in Table 10.4.

Answer

Sow one bean seed, water it regularly and watch it for three months. Write the date every time something new appears. Here is Table 10.4 filled in with typical timings for a bean plant in Indian weather.

Date (day of the activity)	Observations	Sketch to draw
Day 1	Seeds are sown	A bean seed under the soil
Day 3–4	The seed has swollen, the seed coat has cracked and a small white root pushes downwards	Seed with a short root
Day 5–7	A bent shoot comes out above the soil and straightens; the first two thick seed leaves open	Hook-shaped shoot, then two leaves
Day 10–15	True green leaves appear; the stem lengthens; the root branches	Young plant with 4–6 leaves
Day 25–40	The plant becomes bushy, tendrils or side branches appear	Full leafy plant
Day 40–55	First flowers appear	Plant with flowers
Day 55–70	Petals dry and fall; a tiny green pod is left behind and starts to swell	Dried flower with a young pod
Day 70–90	Pods are full-sized and contain seeds; they begin to dry and turn brown	Pod split open, seeds inside
Day 90 onwards	The plant turns yellow and dries up even though watering continues — it has completed its life	Dry, yellow plant

Tip: keep the dates honest. Your plant may be a week faster in summer and slower in winter, and that is a real observation worth writing down — not a mistake.

Q2.

After how many days does the first flower appear?

Answer

For a bean plant, the first flower usually appears about 40 to 55 days after sowing — roughly six to eight weeks. Write the exact number of days your plant took.

Plant	Days from sowing to the first flower
Bean / rajma	about 40–55 days
Moong	about 30–35 days
Sunflower	about 55–65 days
Marigold (genda)	about 45–60 days
Mustard (sarson)	about 40–50 days

Why flowering takes so long: before it can flower, the plant must first build a big enough body — a good root system and enough leaves to make plenty of food. Flowering, and then filling the seeds, needs a large store of food. That is why a plant flowers only after weeks of leafy growth, never in the first few days.

Q3.

After some parts of the flower have dried, can you see any further growth? Which structure do the remaining parts of flower develop into? Can you notice a pod or a fruit with seeds develop from a flower?

Answer

Yes — growth continues even after the flower dries. Watch one flower carefully and do not pluck it.

The coloured petals wither and fall off first. It looks as if the flower has finished.
The small green part at the base of the flower stays behind and starts to swell.
That part grows into the fruit — in a bean plant, a pod.
Inside the pod, seeds develop and get bigger.
Finally the pod dries, turns brown and can be split open to show the new bean seeds.

Flower → petals dry and fall → the remaining part swells → fruit (pod) → seeds inside

Yes, the pod with seeds does develop from the flower. That is the most important observation of this activity: the seeds you started with and the seeds you end with are the same kind, one generation apart.

Check it yourself: tie a small thread loosely around the stalk of the very first flower on your plant. Come back after two weeks and you will find your thread now tied below a young pod — clear proof that the pod grew out of that flower.

Q4.

What happens to the plant after the fruits containing seeds are formed?

Answer

The plant slowly stops growing, turns yellow, dries up and dies — even though you keep watering it.

Leaves lose their green colour and become yellow, then brown and papery.
New leaves and flowers stop appearing.
The stem becomes dry and brittle; the pods rattle when shaken.
Finally all the activities of life come to an end and the plant is considered dead.

Why the plant dies after fruiting: a bean plant lives for only one season. Almost all the food it makes is poured into filling the seeds. Once that is done, its work is finished — the next generation is already packed inside the pods. This is very different from a mango or a neem tree, which flowers and fruits year after year for decades.

A plant is said to be dead when it stops growing and all activities of life gradually come to an end, even though all the necessary conditions are still available.

Q5.

What changes do you observe after the fruits are formed? Does the plant become yellow and dry even when you continue watering it? Sow the seeds obtained from your bean plant. Watch how the seeds give rise to a new generation of bean plants.

Answer

Yes — the plant becomes yellow and dries up in spite of regular watering. Water alone cannot keep a plant alive once it has finished its life cycle.

Then sow the seeds from your own pods. In about a week they germinate and the whole story starts again. That completes the circle and shows you what a life cycle means.

Seed → young plant → mature plant → flowers → fruit (pod) with seeds → new generation of plants

In the book's words: the entire process from a seed to a plant, and then, to the next generation of seeds is called the life cycle of a plant. The five stages of Fig. 10.4 are:

Stage	What is seen
Stage I	Seed
Stage II	Seed germination
Stage III	Appearance of leaves
Stage IV	Appearance of flowers
Stage V	Appearance of fruits — a pod with seeds — followed by the death of the plant

The big idea: the individual plant dies, but the kind does not. The seeds carry the life forward. This is the same idea you met when you asked why reproduction is necessary — it is needed for the continuity of life.

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