Flowering Plant Information

Overview

Angiosperms, that is, flowering plants, evolved when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, about 100 million years ago. They employ wind or creatures in their reproductive strategy; the flowers are the reproductive part of the plant. You can tell if a plant enlists wind or creature--even the kind of creature--by how the flower looks. Small flowers use wind and showy flowers use creatures. Flower characteristics like color tell you the plant's favored pollinator. Bees, for instance, are attracted to yellow and blue flowers. Flowering plants are the most common plant on Earth.

Flower Parts

Flowers possess up to four basic flower parts. Complete flowers have them all; incomplete flowers don't. The parts are the sepal, petals, the male stamen and the female pistil.

Perfect

With male and female parts, flowers are sexual reproducers. Plants like roses have flowers with both anthers and pistils and so are hermaphroditic. These "perfect" flowers are able to self-pollinate.

Imperfect

Imperfect plants produce male or female flowers. Plants like the holly tree are dioecious, producing only one flower sex per plant, so both male and female plants must present for fruit to grow. Plants with male and female flowers on one plant (begonias) are monoecious.

Annuals, Biennials, Perennials

Flowering plants that complete a life cycle in one growing season are annuals. Biennials live two years, and perennials live three or more years.

Life Cycle

Flowering plants grow from seeds, sprouting one or two leaves (monocots sprout one; dicots, two), then growing roots, stems and leaves. Flowers bloom for reproduction. Pollination accomplishes a fertilized egg, from which grows fruit and seed.

Photo by: Soloma J/Personal Collection