Plant Organography:
Flowers
Flower
• The part of the plant that produces seeds, is often
brightly colored, and sometimes has a pleasant
smell.
• Consists of reproductive organs: stamens and
carpels
• Typically surrounded by: petals (corolla) and green
sepals (calyx).
Structure of Flowers
Flowers begin as
embryonic
primordium
Flower Anatomy
• Sepals, which constitute the outermost
and lowest whorl on a floral shoot, are
leaflike in shape and form and are often
green.
• Sepals cover and protect the flower parts
when the flower is a bud.
• The collective term for all the sepals of a
flower is calyx.
Flower Anatomy
Corolla: the whorl of petals, which
are usually thin, soft and colored to
attract animals that help the process
of pollination.
Structure of Flowers
Flowers begin as
embryonic
primordium
Flower Anatomy
• The basic unit of the female
reproductive structure is the carpel.
Each physical body is called a pistil.
• 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,
containing the gametes, housed
inside the ovary.
Fruit and Seed Formation
A fruit develops from an ovary. A seed develops from an ovule.
Flower Structure Variation
perfect
imperfect imperfect
Flower Structure Variation
Ovary Position
Flower Structure Variation
A flower having sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils is complete; if a
flower is lacking one or more of these whorls, it is said to be
incomplete.
complete
incomplete
no stamens present = incomplete
Inflorescences
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of
flowers. It may be branched or
unbranched.
Usually the modifications have been
evolved to optimize the plant’s method of
pollen dispersal.
Identify the type of inflorescence.
Raceme:
Flower on individual
stem coming off the
main stem
-an unbranched, indeter-
minate inflorescence
with pedicellate flowers
along the axis.
Identify the type of inflorescence.
Spike: type of raceme
with flowers that do not
have a pedicel
Identify the type of inflorescence.
Panicle: more
strongly and
irregularly branched
from the top to the
bottom and where
each branching has a
terminal flower.
Identify the type of inflorescence.
Umbel: type of
raceme with a short
axis and multiple
floral pedicels of
equal length that
appear to arise from a
common point.
Identify the type of inflorescence.
Compound Umbel:
umbels in which the
single flowers are
replaced by many
smaller umbels
called umbellets.
Identify the type of inflorescence.
Catkin: or ament is
a scaly, generally
drooping spike or
raceme.
Identify the type of inflorescence.
Spadix:
is a spike of flowers
densely arranged
around it, enclosed or
accompanied by a
highly specialized
bract called a spathe.
Identify the type of inflorescence.
Corymb:
is an unbranched,
indeterminate
inflorescence that is flat-
topped or convex due to
their outer pedicels which
are progressively longer
than inner ones.
Identify the type of inflorescence.
Composite Head:
capitulum is a very
contracted raceme in
which the single
sessile flowers are
borne on an enlarged
stem.
Identify the type of inflorescence.
Cyme:
A flat-topped
inflorescence in which
the central flower
opens first, followed
by the peripheral
flowers.
The Cycle…
Dicot Monocot
PHYLUM ANTHOPHYTA (Flowering Plants)
DICOTS MONOCOTS
Two cotyledons One cotyledon
Flower parts in multiples of four or five Flower parts in multiples of three
Leaves with distinct network of veins Leaves with parallel primary veins
Vascular cambium and cork cambium Vascular cambium and cork cambium
present absent
Vascular bundles of stem in ring Vascular bundles of stem scattered
Pollen grains with three apertures Pollen grains with one aperture
