Back Blom Afrikaans Blüte ALS አበባ Amharic Falo AMI Flor AN Blōtsma ANG زهرة (نبات) Arabic ܗܒܒܐ ARC زهره (نبات) ARZ ফুল Assamese
A flower, also known as a bloom or blossom,[1] is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). Flowers consist of a combination of vegetative organs – sepals that enclose and protect the developing flower. Petals attract pollinators, and reproductive organs that produce gametophytes, which in flowering plants produce gametes. The male gametophytes, which produce sperm, are enclosed within pollen grains produced in the anthers. The female gametophytes are contained within the ovules produced in the ovary.[2][3] In some plants, multiple flowers occur singly on a pedicel (flower stalk), and some are arranged in a group (inflorescence) on a peduncle (inflorescence stalk).[2]
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, large petals with patterns only visible to under ultraviolet light, attractive scents, and the production of nectar, a food source for pollinators.[4][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.[5]
When pollen from the anther of a flower is transferred to the stigma to another, it is called pollination. Some flowers may self-pollinate, producing seed using pollen from 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.[6] Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization (parthenocarpy).[7] After fertilization, the ovary of the flower develops into fruit containing seeds.[2]
Flowers have long been appreciated for their beauty and pleasant scents, and also hold cultural significance as religious, ritual, or symbolic objects, or sources of medicine and food.
- ^ "Flower." Cambridge Thesaurus, Cambridge University Press, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/thesaurus/flower. Accessed 18 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d The Ultimate Visual Family Dictionary. New Delhi: DK Pub. 2012. pp. 140–147. ISBN 978-0-1434-1954-9.
- ^ Ma, Hong; Sundaresan, Venkatesan (2010), "Development of Flowering Plant Gametophytes", Current Topics in Developmental Biology, vol. 91, Elsevier, pp. 379–412, doi:10.1016/s0070-2153(10)91013-2, ISBN 978-0-12-380910-0, retrieved 2024-12-18
- ^ "Plant Pollination Strategies". US Forest Service. 12 December 2022. Archived from the original on Feb 16, 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
- ^ Bayer, Mandy (9 September 2015). "Pollinators in the Landscape II: Plants and Pollinators". Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Archived from the original on Jan 7, 2024.
- ^ "Self-Pollination and Cross-Pollination | Biology for Majors II". Lumen Learning. Archived from the original on 2020-07-21. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
- ^ "Parthenocarpy - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". Science Direct. Retrieved 18 December 2024.