Flower and Its Parts

The flower is a highly specialized and colorful part of shoot of limited growth. It is concerned with the sexual reproductive process in higher plants leading to the formation of fruits and seeds. Flower is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants. The function of a flower is to affect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. Flowers may be complete or incomplete. Hibiscus, mustard, etc

are complete flower while orchids, canna, etc are incomplete flower. In addition to facilitating the reproduction of flowering plants, flowers have long been admired and used by humans to bring beauty to their environment, and also as objects of ritual, religion, medicine, and as a source of food.

Parts of flower

A typical angiospermic flower consists of four sets of floral parts: Calyx (sepals), Corolla (petals), Androecium (stamens) and Gynoecium (carpel). Calyx and corolla are known as accessory or non-essential whorls because they have only secondary role in reproduction. The androecium and gynoecium constitute the reproductive or essential whorls as they are involved in production of male and female gametes and seed formation.

Calyx (sepals): This is the outermost whorl of the flower which is light green in color. A flower contains sepals which protect the flower in the bud stage.

Corolla (petals): This is the second whorl of the flower which consists of petals. They are colorful part of the flower to attract insects for pollination.

Androecium (stamens): Androecium is the third whorl of the flower. It is the male reproductive part of the flower, found after petals. Each stamen has three parts, i.e. filament, connective and anther.

Gynoecium (carpel): It is the female reproductive and innermost part of the flower. The components of gynoecium are called carpel or pistil. Each gynoecium has three parts, i.e. ovary, style and stigma. Ovary is the basal part of the carpel and encloses ovules.