Guide to Flowers

While flowers are pretty to look at and make for great decoration, flowers actually have a very important purpose. A flower is part of the reproductive system of flowering plants by means of pollination. Reproduction is the act of making more of something, so pollination is how flowering plants make more flowering plants.

Flowering plants are also known as angiosperms. Most angiosperms are not always in bloom but instead have a certain season during the year in which they bloom. Spring and summer are the usual seasons for flowering plants to have flowers, but some flowers bloom in autumn, and some flowers are in bloom year-round.

Pistil

The pistil is the female reproductive part of a flower and is typically located in the center section of the flower. The pistil is comprised of the stigma, the ovary, and the style. The stigma is the tip of the pistil. It collects the pollen where it will begin the process of reproduction. The ovary contains the special cells called ovules (or seeds) that make new flowering plants when they meet with pollen. The stigma and the ovary are connected to each other by a long tube called the style.

Did you know? Did you know that flowers that contain both male and female parts are known as perfect flowers? About 90% of flowering plants are perfect flowers. The other 10% have only male or only female parts, making them imperfect flowers. Of course, being "perfect" or "imperfect" has nothing to do with their beauty - only their ability to reproduce on their own.