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Close-up of a Schlumbergera flower, showing part of the gynoecium (specifically the stigma and part of the style) and the stamens that surround it. Plant reproductive morphology is the study of the physical form and structure (the morphology) of those parts of plants directly or indirectly concerned with sexual reproduction.
Sexual reproduction produces offspring by the fusion of gametes, resulting in offspring genetically different from either parent. Vegetative reproduction produces new individuals without the fusion of gametes, resulting in clonal plants that are genetically identical to the parent plant and each other, unless mutations occur. In asexual ...
The morphology of a flower, or its form and structure, [10] can be considered in two parts: the vegetative part, consisting of non-reproductive structures such as petals; and the reproductive or sexual parts. A stereotypical flower is made up of four kinds of structures arranged in whorls around the tip of a short stalk or axis, called a ...
For example, flower symmetry, nectar production, floral structure, and inflorescences are just a few of the many secondary sex characteristics acted upon by sexual selection. Sexual dimorphisms and reproductive organs can also be affected by sexual selection in flowering plants.
Flowers that bear a gynoecium but no stamens are called pistillate or carpellate. Flowers lacking a gynoecium are called staminate. The gynoecium is often referred to as female because it gives rise to female (egg-producing) gametophytes; however, strictly speaking sporophytes do not have a sex, only gametophytes do. [1]
The flower-bearing part of the plant is usually sharply distinguished from the leaf-bearing part, and forms a branch-system called an inflorescence. [37] Flowers produce two kinds of reproductive cells. Microspores, which divide to become pollen grains, are the male cells; they are borne in the stamens. [57]
Many flowers contain a variety of shapes acting to aid with the landing of the visiting insect and also influence the insect to brush against anthers and stigmas (parts of the flower). One such example of a flower is the pÅhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa), which acts to regulate colour in a different
In dimorphic sexual systems, individual plants within a species only produce one sort of flower, either hermaphrodite or male, or female. Dimorphic sexual systems include dioecy, gynodioecy, androdioecy, and trioecy. [7] Male (a.k.a. staminate) flowers have a stamen but no pistil and produce only male gametes. Female (a.k.a. pistillate) flowers ...