Flowers

Flower
• A flower, also known as a bloom or
blossom, is the reproductive structure
found in flowering plants(plants of the
division Magnoliophyta, also called
angiosperms).
• The biological function of a flower is to
mediate the union of male sperm with
female ovum in order to produce seeds.
• The process begins with pollination, is
followed by fertilization, leading to the
formation and dispersal of the seeds.
Underground Orchid
 Parts of a Flower
• Peduncle
• Pedicels
• Receptacle
• Sepals (Calyx)
• Petal (Corolla)
• Perianth
• Stamens
1.2Filament
2. Anther
• Pistil
1. Stigma
2. Style
3. Ovule
3. Ovary
a. Superior
b. Inferior
• Calyx: the outer whorl of sepals; typically
these are green, but are petal-like in some
species.
• Corolla: the whorl of petals, which are
usually thin, soft and colored to attract
insects that help the process of pollination.
• Androecium (from Greek andros oikia:
man's house): one or two whorls of
stamens, each a filament topped by an
anther where pollen is produced. Pollen
contains the male gametes.
• Gynoecium (from Greek gynaikos oikia:
woman's house): one or more pistils.
• The female reproductive organ is the carpel: this
contains an ovary with ovules (which contain
female gametes).
• A pistil may consist of a number of carpels
merged together, in which case there is only one
pistil to each flower, or of a single individual carpel
(the flower is then called apocarpous).
• The sticky tip of the pistil, the stigma, is the
receptor of pollen. The supportive stalk, the style
becomes the pathway for pollen tubes to grow
from pollen grains adhering to the stigma, to the
ovules, carrying the reproductive material.
• In those species that have more than
one flower on an axis—so-called
composite flowers—the collection of
flowers is termed an inflorescence; this
term can also refer to the specific
arrangements of flowers on a stem.
• In botanical terminology, a single daisy
or sunflower for example, is not a
flower but a flower head—an
inflorescence composed of numerous
tiny flowers (sometimes called florets).
• In annuals, the cycle is completed in a
single season and ends with the death of
the parent plant.
• Biennials take two growing seasons to
complete the cycle;
• Perennials, however, may take several to
many growing seasons to go from a
germinated seed to a plant producing new
seeds.
Each flower has a specific design which best
encourages the transfer of its pollen.
• Cleistogamous flowers are self pollinated, after
which, they may or may not open. Many Viola and
some Salvia species are known to have these
types of flowers.
• Entomophilous flowers attract and use insects,
bats, birds or other animals to transfer pollen from
one flower to the next.
• Flowers commonly have glands called nectaries
on their various parts that attract these animals.
• Some flowers have patterns, called nectar guides, that
show pollinators where to look for nectar.
• Flowers also attract pollinators by scent and
color. Still other flowers use mimicry to
attract pollinators.
• Some species of orchids, for example,
produce flowers resembling female bees in
color, shape, and scent.
• Flowers are also specialized in shape and
have an arrangement of the stamens that
ensures that pollen grains are transferred to
the bodies of the pollinator when it lands in
search of its attractant (such as nectar,
pollen, or a mate).
• Anemophilous flowers use the wind to
move pollen from one flower to the next,
examples include the grasses, Birch trees,
Ragweed and Maples.
• They have no need to attract pollinators
and therefore tend not to be "showy"
flowers.
• Male and female reproductive organs
are generally found in separate flowers,
the male flowers having a number of
long filaments terminating in exposed
stamens, and the female flowers having
long, feather-like stigmas.
• Whereas the pollen of entomophilous
flowers tends to be large-grained,
sticky, and rich in protein (another
"reward" for pollinators), anemophilous
flower pollen is usually small-grained,
very light, and of little nutritional value
to insects.
 Seed
• A seed (in some plants, referred to as a kernel)
is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a
covering called the seed coat, usually with some
stored food.
• It is the product of the ripened ovule of
gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which
occurs after fertilization and some growth within
the mother plant.
• The formation of the seed completes
the process of reproduction in seed
plants (started with the development of
flowers and pollination), with the
embryo developed from the zygote and
the seed coat from the integuments of
the ovule.
• Seeds have been an important
development in the reproduction and
spread of flowering plants, relative to
more primitive plants like mosses,
ferns and liverworts, which do not have
seeds and use other means to
propagate themselves.
A typical seed includes three basic parts:
• (1) an embryo,
• (2) a supply of nutrients for the embryo,
and
• (3) a seed coat.
-The embryo is an immature plant from
which a new plant will grow under proper
conditions.
• The embryo has one cotyledon or seed
leaf in monocotyledons, two cotyledons in
almost all dicotyledons and two or more
in gymnosperms.
• The radicle is the embryonic root. The
plumule is the embryonic shoot.
• The embryonic stem above the point of
attachment of the cotyledon(s) is the
epicotyl.
• The embryonic stem below the point of
attachment is the hypocotyl. Within the
seed, there usually is a store of nutrients
for the seedling that will grow from the
embryo.
• Some exalbuminous seeds are bean, pea,
oak, walnut, squash, sunflower, and
radish.
• Seeds with an endosperm at maturity are
termed albuminous seeds.
• Most monocots (e.g. grasses and palms)
and many dicots (e.g. brazil nut and castor
bean) have albuminous seeds.
• The seed coat helps protect the embryo
from mechanical injury and from drying
out.
• In addition to the three basic seed
parts, some seeds have an appendage
on the seed coat such an aril (as in yew
and nutmeg) or hairs (as in cotton).
• There may also be a scar on the seed
coat, called the hilum; it is where the
seed was attached to the ovary wall by
the funiculus.
• The seed, which is an embryo with two
points of growth (one of which forms
the stems the other the roots) is
enclosed in a seed coat with some food
reserves.
• Angiosperm seeds consist of three
genetically distinct constituents: (1) the
embryo formed from the zygote, (2) the
endosperm, which is normally triploid,
(3) the seed coat from tissue derived
from the maternal tissue of the ovule.
• Monocotyledonous plants like corn,
have other structures; instead of the
hypocotyle-epicotyle, it has a:
• a.)coleoptile that forms the first leaf
and connects to the b.)coleorhiza that
connects to the primary root and
adventitious roots form from the sides.
• The seeds of corn are constructed with
these structures;
• pericarp,
• scutellum (single large cotyledon) that
absorbs nutrients from the endosperm,
• endosperm, plumule, radicle,
• coleoptile and coleorhiza - these last
two structures are sheath-like and
enclose the plumule and radicle, acting
as a protective covering.
End!!!!