PARTS OF THE FLOWER

The flower has a male and female parts. These may be on the same flower or on different ones. Below are the various parts of a typical flower.


1. The male part of the flower is called the stamen and it consists of the anthers and filaments. The anthers contains the pollen grains.
2. The female part of the flower is called the pistil. It consists of the stigma, the style, ovary and ovule.
3. The stigma is sticky and it attracts the pollen during pollination.
4. Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the anthers to the stigma. It may be self or cross-pollination. Self-pollination involves the same flower whereas, cross-pollination involves different flowers.
5. The pollen grows through the style into the ovary to fertilize the ovule.
6. Fertilization leads to seed production and embryo formation. So the seed is the fertilized ovule.
7. The petals are colorful and they attract the agents of pollination such as bees, butterflies, etc.
8. The ovary wall becomes the fleshy part of the fruit.

This diagram summarizes the functions of the various parts.