Final answer:
A flowering plant has been successfully fertilized when it shows signs such as fruit development, ovary enlargement, and the possible wilting of flowers. Pollination precedes fertilization and is facilitated by animals like bees, birds, and butterflies, or by wind. Flowering plants have adapted to attract pollinators with bright petals and nectar.
Step-by-step explanation:
A person can tell whether a flowering plant has been successfully fertilized by observing certain changes in the plant. Post-fertilization, the most Noticeable manifestations are the development of fruits, enlargement of the ovary, and oftentimes the wilting or dropping of petals and other flower parts. The initial process of pollination can be facilitated by various agencies such as bees, birds, butterflies, other animals, or even wind. However, it is the subsequent step, fertilization, that is critical for the production of seeds.
Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms, can reproduce through self-pollination or cross-fertilization. Self-pollination occurs when pollen from a flower's own anther is transferred to its stigma, while cross-fertilization involves pollen transfer between different plants. Insects and other animals play a pivotal role in cross-pollination, with plants often evolving colorful petals and nectar to attract them. After pollinators visit the stigma and leave pollen, if fertilization is successful, the plant will begin to develop seeds within the ovary, which often transforms into a fruit to protect the seeds and aid in their dispersal.
This reproductive strategy, including bright petals and nectar production, is highly successful and is part of why flowering plants are so prevalent. After successful pollination and fertilization, a flowering plant's branch, having transitioned to produce flowers, will then focus on fruit and seed production, often culminating in the senescence of that flowering branch, as seen in determinate plants like wheat.