Flower

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Flower (disambiguation).
"Floral" redirects here. For other uses, see Floral (disambiguation).
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure
found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). Flowers produce
gametophytes, which in flowering plants consist of a few haploid cells which
produce gametes. The "male" gametophyte, which produces non-motile sperm, is
enclosed within pollen grains; the "female" gametophyte is contained within the ovule.
When pollen from the anther of a flower is deposited on the stigma, this is
called pollination. Some flowers may self-pollinate, producing seed using pollen from
the same flower or a different flower of the same plant, but others have mechanisms to
prevent self-pollination and rely on cross-pollination, when pollen is transferred from the
anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower on a different individual of the same
species.
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. This
pollination does not require an investment from the plant to provide nectar and pollen as
food for pollinators.[1]
Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization (parthenocarpy). Flowers
contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop.
Most flowering plants depend on animals, such as bees, moths, and butterflies, to
transfer their pollen between different flowers, and have evolved to attract
these pollinators by various strategies, including brightly colored, conspicuous petals,
attractive scents, and the production of nectar, a food source for pollinators.[2] In this
way, many flowering plants have co-evolved with pollinators to be mutually dependent
on services they provide to one another—in the plant's case, a means of reproduction;
in the pollinator's case, a source of food. [3] After fertilization, the ovary of the flower
develops into fruit containing seeds.
Flowers have long been appreciated by humans for their beauty and pleasant scents,
and also hold cultural significance as religious, ritual, or symbolic objects, or sources
of medicine and food.

Etymology
Flower 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. It comes
originally from the Latin name of the Italian goddess of flowers, Flora. The early word for
flower in English was blossom,[4] though it now refers to flowers only of fruit trees.[5]

Morphology

Diagram of flower parts.

Main article: Floral morphology
The morphology of a flower, or its form and structure,[6] can be considered in two parts:
the vegetative part, consisting of non-reproductive structures such as petals; and the
reproductive or sexual parts. A stereotypical flower is made up of four kinds of
structures attached to the tip of a short stalk or axis, called a receptacle. Each of these
parts or floral organs is arranged in a spiral called a whorl.[7] The four main whorls
(starting from the base of the flower or lowest node and working upwards) are
the calyx, corolla, androecium, and gynoecium. Together the calyx and corolla make up
the non-reproductive part of the flower called the perianth, and in some cases may not
be differentiated. If this is the case, then they are described as tepals.[