Plant Science CH03 Part 4: Flowers
Racemose
A type of inflorescence where the axis is indeterminate (continues to grow).
Cymose
A type of inflorescence where upward growth of the floral axis is stopped early by the development of a terminal flower.
Perfect Flower
Flower that has both male and female parts.
Imperfect Flower
Flower that only has male or female parts.
Dioecious Plants
Plants bearing staminate flowers on one plant and pistillate flowers on a different plant. They are called male and female plants.
Polygamous Plants
Plants that bear staminate, pistillate, and hermaphroditic (bisexual—both sexes present and functional in the same flower) flowers on the same plant.
Pedicel
Stalk of an individual flower in a cluster.
Recepticle
The apex of the pedicel upon which the organs of a flower are developed.
Pistil
The female reproductive part of a flower
Perianth
collective term for the outer parts of a flower consisting of the calyx and corolla and enclosing the stamens and pistils
Peduncle
(1) Stalk that bears the single flower at the top. (2) The main stem or axis of a flower cluster.
Incomplete Flower
A flower in which one or more of the four basic floral organs such as sepals, petals, stamens, or carpels are either absent or nonfunctional.
Complete Flower
A flower that has all four basic floral organs: sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels.
Monoecious Plants
Bearing both staminate and pistillate flowers on the same plant.
Style
Connects the stigma to the ovary of a flower
Ovary
Enlarged, bulbous, basal part of the pistil that bears the ovules—the egg-containing units that, after fertilization, become the seeds attached either to its central axis or to its inner wall.
Carpel
Female part of the flower, produce the female gametophytes, ova. Each consists of an ovary, stigma and style. Also called the pistil.
Anther
In an angiosperm, the terminal pollen sac of a stamen, where pollen grains containing sperm-producing male gametophytes form.
Monoecious
Latin word meaning plant species has both sexes in one "house", or individual.
Dioecious
Latin word meaning plant species has both sexes split across two "houses", or individuals.
Stamen
Male part of the flower; made up of an anther and a filament.
Pollen
Microscopic grains that contain the male gametes or sex cells of a plant.
Floral Bracts
Modified leaves that can simulate petals and add a conspicuous part to otherwise inconspicuous flowers. Poinsettia
Corolla
The inner set of leaflike parts of a flower lying just within the calyx and composed of petals.
Filament
The long, thin structure that supports the anther in a flower
Calyx
The ring of sepals making up the outermost, leaflike part of the flower.
Stigma
The tip of the female reproductive structure of a flower where the pollen lands
Terminal Flower Position
When flowers or clusters of flowers are carried on the ends of the axis or branches.
Axillary Flower Position
When flowers or clusters of flowers arise at the junction of the stem or axis and the leaf.
Inflorescence
a cluster of flowers
ecious
means house in Latin.
mono
means one in latin
di
means two in latin.
