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Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (/ ˌ æ n dʒ i ə ˈ s p ər m iː /). [5] [6] The term 'angiosperm' is derived from the Greek words ἀγγεῖον / angeion ('container, vessel') and σπέρμα / sperma ('seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit.
Angiosperm seeds are "enclosed seeds", produced in a hard or fleshy structure called a fruit that encloses them for protection. Some fruits have layers of both hard and fleshy material. In gymnosperms, no special structure develops to enclose the seeds, which begin their development "naked" on the bracts of cones.
All spermatophytes ("seed plants") possess flowers as defined here (in a broad sense), but the internal organization of the flower is very different in the two main groups of spermatophytes: living gymnosperms and angiosperms. Gymnosperms may possess flowers that are gathered in strobili, or the flower itself may be a strobilus of fertile leaves.
The epidermis is the main component of the dermal tissue system of leaves (diagrammed below), and also stems, roots, flowers, fruits, and seeds; it is usually transparent (epidermal cells have fewer chloroplasts or lack them completely, except for the guard cells.) The cells of the epidermis are structurally and functionally variable.
Fruits are the mature ovary of seed-bearing plants, and they include the contents of the ovary, which can be floral parts like the receptacle, involucre, calyx, and others that are fused to it. Fruits are often used to identify plant taxa, help to place the species in the correct family, or differentiate different groups within the same family.
After flowering, most plants have no more use for the calyx which withers or becomes vestigial, although in a few plants such as Lodoicea and eggplant (Solanum melongena) the calyx grows along with the fruit, possibly to protect the attachment point. Some plants retain a thorny calyx, either dried or live, as protection for the fruit or seeds.
Flower of Liriodendron tulipifera, a Mesangiosperm. Mesangiospermae is a clade that contains the majority of flowering plants (angiosperms). Mesangiosperms are therefore known as the core angiosperms, in contrast to the three orders of earlier-diverging species known as the basal angiosperms: Nymphaeales (including water lilies), Austrobaileyales (including star anise), and Amborellales.
The monocots or monocotyledons have, as the name implies, a single (mono-) cotyledon, or embryonic leaf, in their seeds.Historically, this feature was used to contrast the monocots with the dicotyledons or dicots which typically have two cotyledons; however, modern research has shown that the dicots are not a natural group, and the term can only be used to indicate all angiosperms that are not ...