{Flowers

Hey good looking, what you got cooking?

What is the function of a flower?

Flower parts in common

The Peduncle is the stalk of the flower

It supports the flower The Receptacle is the top

of the peduncle. It swells to support the

flower

All Flowers Have 4 Basic Parts

The parts are formed or arranged in whorls

Sepals Petals Stamens Carpels

Sepals

First outermost whorl

The whorl of sepals is called a calyx

Sepals are usually green

They protect the flower when the bud is closed

Petals

2nd Whorl The whorl of petals

is called the corolla Color and

arrangement target specific pollinators

Together the sepals and petals are the perianth

Stamens-male parts

3rd Whorl Plants can have

few or many 2 parts

Anthers-little bags of pollen

Filaments- narrow stalks that support the anther

Carpels-female parts

Most Central Carpels fuse to

form pistils 3 parts

Stigma-the tip where pollination occurs

Style-long tubular part

Ovary-swollen base

I like to move it, move it

Flowers look so different because each have different strategies to collect and move pollen.

Some rely on animal helpers, while others use the wind

I like to move it, move it

If you want to use a bee: Bees see blue

and violet best Some petals

have designs invisible to humans and visible to bees

If you prefer a moth….

White is easier to spot in the night when moths are active

You can smell in the dark! Flowers that use moths have strong smells

If a Hummingbird is more your speed

They see red really well

They will keep coming back for nectar

Long beaks can access nectar at the base of long tubes, so fuse those petals up

If you prefer a beetle or fly….

You’re probably pretty gross

Beetles and flies are attracted to rotted meat; flowers mimic that in appearance

The smell of urine is irresistible to this crowd, so the flowers mimic that too

{Skip the petals!Flowers on grasses have no corolla so the pollen can come and go as it will

If you can’t resist the wind

{

Can you remember what an infloresence is?

Remember it was something you had seen before

Catkins

Infloresence made of tightly packed flowers

They droop and may lack petals

Examples include willow and birch

Head or Capitulum

Sunflowers may look like single flowers BUT they are actually a Head type infloresence.

The part that looks like petals is made of ray type flowers

The flowers that look like the center is made of disk type flowers

They are arranged on a single receptacle.

Racemes

Flowers branch from a rachis

Flowers have short pedicles

Flowers bloom from base to tip

Umbels

Many short flowering stems begin at the same point on a main stem

Look like spokes of an umbrella

Example: Queen Anne’s Lace