"A flower blossoms for its own joy.”
Oscar Wilde
In the last post, we looked at the non-reproductive parts of Angiosperms, flowering plants. In this post, we will look at the reproductive parts of a flower – the Gynoecium and Androecium.
First, let’s continue looking at some more definition of flowers,
from Wikipedia…Flowers are the reproductive parts of flowering plants. A flower is a special part of the plant. Flowers are also called the bloom or blossom of a plant.
from Merriam Webster…Flowers are "the specialized part of an angiospermous plant that occurs singly or in clusters, possesses whorls of often colorful petals or sepals, and bears the reproductive structures (such as stamens or pistils) involved in the development of seeds and fruit : blossom.
from CropsReview.com…It is a plant organ. It is a reproductive structure of an angiospermous plant. It is a determinate, modified shoot having either or both a stamen and pistil where male and female sexual gametes are produced, respectively. It is the pistil which develops into a seed or seeds enclosed in fruits. In addition, this plant organ may also consist of outer whorls of petals and/or sepals.
Reproductive Plant Structure
The female part of the flower is known as the Gynoecium, from the Greek words meaning "woman’s house" and the male part of the flower are known as the Androecium, a Greek word meaning "man’s house.”
Gynoecium, The "Woman's House"
The Gynoecium consists of one or more pistils (Latin, “pestle”), which includes the stigma, style, ovary and ovule.
- The stigma (Greek, “mark” or “puncture”) is the sticky knob at the top of the pistil. It receives the pollen (sperm) and starts the fertilization process.
- The style (Greek, “pillar”) is the long, slender stalk that connects the stigma to the ovary. When pollen reaches the stigma, it begins to grow a pollen tube down through the style to the ovary.
- The ovary (Latin, “egg”) is the enlarged base of a pistil and contains the ovules (eggs) awaiting fertilization.
Androecium, The “Man’s house”
The Androecium consists of one or more stamen, which includes the filament and anther.
- Filament (Latin, “fine thread”) is a long, thin stalk that connects to and holds up the anther.
- Anther (Greek, “flower”) is the head of the stamen and contains the sack of pollen that produces and releases pollen grains.
Plant Reproduction
- Seeds (Latin, "egg") are fertilized ovules and a plant in embryonic form. In some plants, seedless fruits develop without fertilization through a process known as parthenocarpy (Greek, "virgin fruit").
- Fruit (Latin, ""to use, enjoy") is a mature or ripe ovary typically containing seed(s). During fruit development, the ovary wall thickens to become the fruit wall or pericarp (Latin, "pod, husk, shell") which surrounds and nourishes the seed. Fruit may include the flower receptacle, as well as other flower parts such as the sepals, petals, stamens and portions of the style. A common exception is the strawberry, an accessory fruit. The strawberry is not formed from the plant’s ovary, but from the head of its flower.
- Placentae (Latin, "flat cake") is the place where the ovules and the pericarp connect. For example, if you look inside a tomato, the seeds are growing inside the placental area.
In the final post, we'll cover some special types of flowers.
Resources:
Comments