Tag: technical terms related to flowers

Pistillate flower refers to that imperfect or unisexual flower which does not have the male reproductive organ called the stamen. The stamens are collectively called the androecium. So, a pistillate flower will only show the gynoecium (the female reproductive whorl) and not the androecium. Similarly, a staminate flower will only show the androecium (male reproductive whorl) and not the gynoecium. Hence, the correct answer is 'Androecium'

Florets are the small-sized sessile flowers that collectively form a composite flower in case of the family Asteraceae. Such a flower is called head or capitulum. They are sessile because of the absence of a pedicel.

The individual flowers in an inflorescence are attached by means of pedicel. Such flowers are called pedicellate. When the pedicel is absent, the flowers are called sessile.

The flowers can be defined on the basis of presence and absence of the sepals and petals. When both the sepals and petals are present, the flower is called dichlamydeous.

Adhesion in a flower occurs when the dissimilar floral parts unite with each other. For example, stamens can unite with petals to form epipetalous flowers, stamens can unite with perianth lobes to form epiphyllous flowers, stigma, style and stamens can unite to form gynostegium etc.

Flower with both the sex organs is called an intersexual, bisexual, hermaphrodite or perfect flower.

The flowers of Bougainvillea appear bright pink due to their bracts. This is called homochlamydeous condition when the calyx and corolla cannot be differentiated. These coloured bracts are called petaloid bracts.

A flower is characterised by the calyx and corolla as the non-essential whorls because these are not directly involved in the formation of gametes and fertilization. When these are absent, the flower is called achlamydeous. For example, flowers of willow.

An intersexual flower is also called as the perfect, bisexual or hermaphrodite flower. It has presence of both the male reproductive whorl called the androecium and the female reproductive whorl called the gynoecium. The units of androecium are called the stamens. The units of gynoecium are called the carpels. These are called essential whorls as they form the male gametes and female gametes. Hence, the correct answer is 'Both the essential floral whorls'

Trimerous flowers have flower parts, such as petals, sepals, and stamens, in sets of three. Pentamerous divided into five parts; specifically, having each floral whorl consist of five (or a multiple of five) members. A dicot is a type of flowering plant characterized by its two cotyledons, tetramerous or pentamerous flowers, and net-like leaf veins.  In monocots, flowers are trimerous (number of flower parts in a whorl in threes).