1. Flowers Other facts… Original by Libby Astrachan Modified by Georgia Agriculture Education Curriculum Office- July 2004

2. Regular Flowers • Blossoms in which all petals, sepals, and stamens are shaped alike

3. Irregular Flowers • Blossoms in which at least 1 petal, sepal, or stamens is different from the others.

4. Interesting flowers Tomato: • Petals united at the bases, forming a funnel-shaped corolla

5. Interesting flowers Sweet pea: • Each petal differently shaped

6. Interesting flowers Mint: • Each petal is united

7. Interesting flowers Hibiscus: • Stamens’ filaments “smushed” together, surrounding the style

8. Unisexual Flowers • Flowers that come in either a male or female form

9. Male flowers • Just produce pollen

10. Female flowers • Possess only a pistil • *some female flowers DO have male stamens – but they are reduced in size and non-functional

11. Location of the ovary:Superior • Ovary arising above the corolla

12. Location of the ovary:Inferior • Ovary below the corolla

13. Flowering strategies for unisexual flowers • Holly flowers – male flowers on the right, female on the left

14. Monoecious • both male and female flowers on the same plant • Squash plants produce separate male and female flowers. Male flowers outnumber female ones by about 3.5 to one to 10 to one. This helps ensure pollination of the female flowers which must be pollinated to set fruit. Bees are the most important pollinators, and seed number and fruit weight increase proportionally to the amount of pollen transferred to the stigma.

15. Dioecious • male and female flowers on different plants • Hollies are grown primarily for berries and since only the female produces berries, you would want to be certain you planted the female. However, there must be a male tree near the female or no fruit is produced. Generally, one male tree to ten females is adequate to insure pollination and good set of berries

16. Inbreeder or Out-breeder?

17. Plant Taxonomy

18. Plants in the same family… • Have similar floral structures • Clockwise, from rt: strawberry, pear, apple

19. Rosaceae • Rose family • Clockwise, from rt: spiraea, quince, rose

20. Compositae • Aster family • Clockwise, from rt: echinops, liatris, echinacea, rudbeckia

21. Liliaceae • Lily family • Clockwise, from rt: tulip, lily

22. Iridaceae • Iris family • Clockwise, from rt: iris, gladiolus, crocus, freesia