Tag: botany

There are four whorls in a flower namely, calyx, corolla, androecium and gynoecium. When a flower has all these four whorls, it is called complete. When any of these are missing, flower is called incomplete.

There are different terms used to describe flowers on the basis of presence and absence of the floral parts or the whorls. A flower that has both the sexual organs, that is both male reproductive parts (androecium) and female reproductive parts (gynoecium) is called a perfect flower.

The filaments are united in several groups. Example: Bombax - polyadelphous.

Wolffia microscopica makes the smallest flowers in the Angiospermae. The flower has a single pistil and stamen. The fruit is also smallest, called utricle. Wolffia microscopica belongs to the family Lemnaceae.

Pistillate flower refers to that imperfect or unisexual flower which does not have the male reproductive organ called the stamen. The stamens are collectively called the androecium. So, a pistillate flower will only show the gynoecium (the female reproductive whorl) and not the androecium. Similarly, a staminate flower will only show the androecium (male reproductive whorl) and not the gynoecium. Hence, the correct answer is 'Androecium'

Florets are the small-sized sessile flowers that collectively form a composite flower in case of the family Asteraceae. Such a flower is called head or capitulum. They are sessile because of the absence of a pedicel.

The individual flowers in an inflorescence are attached by means of pedicel. Such flowers are called pedicellate. When the pedicel is absent, the flowers are called sessile.

The flowers can be defined on the basis of presence and absence of the sepals and petals. When both the sepals and petals are present, the flower is called dichlamydeous.

Adhesion in a flower occurs when the dissimilar floral parts unite with each other. For example, stamens can unite with petals to form epipetalous flowers, stamens can unite with perianth lobes to form epiphyllous flowers, stigma, style and stamens can unite to form gynostegium etc.

Flower with both the sex organs is called an intersexual, bisexual, hermaphrodite or perfect flower.