种 is grain 禾 with 中 for sound: the seed. Seeds sort the world — rice seed grows rice, wheat seed grows wheat — so 'seed' became 'kind, type'. Read zhòng, it's the verb: to plant.
这种 this kind, 各种 all kinds, 种类 categories. As zhòng: 种树 plant trees, 种地 farm the land. The proverb 种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆 — plant melons, harvest melons; plant beans, harvest beans — is Chinese for 'you reap what you sow'.
The grain 禾 seed at the center 中 — every KIND grows from its seed.
Tone flips the meaning: zhǒng is the seed/kind, zhòng is to plant it. 种种子 zhòng zhǒngzi — 'plant seeds' — uses both in a row.