The flowers They are one of the most important parts of a plant, the most visible and are the object of desire and admiration for many. Flowers apart from being the decorative element of a plant, is food for animals and fragrances are made with them. Fruits play an important role in plant reproduction. At OneHowTo.com we tell you what is the function of flowers in the natural world.
Flower pollination
One of the most important functions of flowers is pollination. Flower pollen comes from the stamen and contains the gamete, the male reproductive contribution. Once pollination has occurred, male pollen is transferred to female structures called pistils and stigma.
There are plants that have flowers with stigma and pollen so they can pollinate themselves, there are others that only have pistils, or even only stamens. Pollen can pass from flower to flower through insects such as bees, and through the air. Generally the flowers with striking colors and striking aromas often rely on insects for pollination, in fact its appearance is to attract them.
Production of seeds and fruits
Once the pollination process has occurred in a flowering plant, the male pollen enters the ovary. When the ovum of the mature female plant turns into a seed. Seeds are essential for the survival of plants since they create new ones and are also necessary for the creation of fruits. The fruits are mature ovaries of plants that cover the seeds.
The so-called simple fruits come from flowers with a single ovary and usually have a round shape with one or more seeds, this is the case of tomatoes that arise from flowers with only one ovary. There are also other fruits called aggregates that come from flowers with more than one ovary, they tend to have a much more complicated shape and a good example would be raspberries.
Plant reproduction
The main function of flowers is to make possible the reproduction of plants. The flowers are a part of the plant that provide beauty and attractiveness because otherwise we would only see green leaves. And it is that beauty that makes the natural environment notice them.
When birds, insects, and bats approach the flower, they look at it and steal the nectar. In this way and without knowing it they are pollinating the plants, moving the sperm or pollen from the male stamens to the female pistils.
Nectar for insects
A lots of living beings feed on the nectar of flowers. There are many types of insects that feed on nectar such as ants, butterflies, bees and wasps. Since these flowers need external help to be pollinated, there are many plants that have evolved to be even more beautiful and attractive to their pollinating agents.
For example, the bee orchid has developed so much that it looks like a female bee perched on an orchid. Bats that want to eat nectar feed on the flowers of agave, saguaro and cardón. And these plants have evolved to such an extent that they only open their flowers at night.
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