BIOL 2080 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Double Fertilization, Carrion Flower, Seedless Fruit

• School: University of Windsor
• Department: Biological Sciences
• Course: BIOL 2080
• Professor: Julie Smit

Document Summary

Flowers play a pivotal role in the life cycle of angiosperms, since they are the sites of sexual reproduction. Flowers are modified branches bearing four sets of specialized appendages or floral organs: grouped in whorls. From outermost to innermost whorls: sepals, petals, stamens, carpels. They are inserted into the receptacle, the expanded top of the pedicel or peduncle. Outermost whorl consists of sepals, leafy structures that cover the unopened flower bud; they are usually green and photosynthetic. The whole whorl of sepals of a single flower is called the calyx. Petals that make up the next whorl of flowers are collectively called the corolla. Together, the calyx and corolla constitute the perianth. Male and female structures are found in the center of the flower. The androecium, the whorl of male strictures, is composed of stamens, each of which consists of a pollen-producing anther supported on a stalk, the filament.