The carpel or multiple fused carpels form a hollow structure called an ovary, which produces ovules internally. Gynoecium (from Greek gynaikos oikia: woman's house): the innermost whorl of a flower, consisting of one or more units called carpels.Stamens consist of two parts: a stalk called a filament, topped by an anther where pollen is produced by meiosis and eventually dispersed. Androecium (from Greek andros oikia: man's house): the next whorl (sometimes multiplied into several whorls), consisting of units called stamens.Reproductive parts of Easter Lily ( Lilium longiflorum). Perigone: in monocots the calyx and corolla are indistinguishable thus the whorls of the perianth or perigone are called tepals.
The sepals are the outer covering of the flower as it forms and are the only thing you see of the flower while it is still in bud form. As the flower is forming, it is closed tightly into a bud. The calyx performs a crucial role for the flowering plant. While most calyces are green, there are exceptions in which the calyx is the same color as the petals of the flower or a different color altogether. There are often as many of these sepals as there are petals. The leaf-like structures are individually referred to as sepals. Calyx: The calyx consists of leaf-like structures at the base of a flower that protect the flower during development.Main articles: Perianth, Sepal, and Corolla (flower)Ĭollectively the calyx and corolla form the perianth (see diagram). The early word for flower in English was blossom, though it now refers to flowers only of fruit trees. It comes originally from the Latin name of the Italian goddess of flowers, Flora. In addition to facilitating the reproduction of flowering plants, flowers have long been admired and used by humans to bring beauty to their environment, and also as objects of romance, ritual, esotericism, witchcraft, religion, medicine, and as a source of food.įlower is from the Middle English flour, which referred to both the ground grain and the reproductive structure in plants, before splitting off in the 17th century. After fertilization, the ovary of the flower develops into fruit containing seeds. Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to cause them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen. Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop. Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization ( parthenocarpy). This pollination does not require an investment from the plant to provide nectar and pollen as food for pollinators. Self-pollination happens in flowers where the stamen and carpel mature at the same time, and are positioned so that the pollen can land on the flower's stigma. Cross-pollination is the transfer of pollen from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower on a different individual of the same species. Self-pollination happens when the pollen from the anther is deposited on the stigma of the same flower, or another flower on the same plant. The two types of pollination are: self-pollination and cross-pollination. Flowers may facilitate outcrossing (fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals in a population) resulting from cross-pollination or allow selfing (fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower) when self-pollination occurs. The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. Selection of differently constructed flowers at different stages of vascular plant developmentĪ flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms).