The term flower is used to define a living being of a plant type whose main function is to manufacture seeds that will be responsible for giving rise to new plants. The flowers are made up of three very important parts which are the calyx, the corolla and the stamens, each of them with a specific function. It should also be noted that flowers can be classified according to their number and type of petals and the time they take to bloom. Among the most popular flowers are rose, sunflower, etc.
What is a flower
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It is known by the name of flower to a plant creation that has the task of putting sexual reproduction into operation and producing the seeds that will give space to a new plant. It is usually generated on the side of the stem and is made up of different parts such as stamens, petals, pistil, the receptacle and the sepals. It is the reproductive distribution, characteristic of plants called phanerogams or spermatophytes. Its job is to produce seeds through reproduction. Seeds are the new generation, serving as the primary means by which species propagate and perennial.
Spermatophyte plants have flowers where seeds will be found, but the internal distribution of the flower is very different in the two main groups of spermatophytes: angiosperms and living gymnosperms. Gymnosperms may have flowers that are grouped in strobili, or the flower itself may be a strobilus with fertile leaves. While the typical angiosperm flower is made up of four classes of physiologically and structurally modified leaves to protect and reproduce gametes. Said transformed leaves or anthophiles are the petals, sepals and stamens.
The responsibility for the existence of a great variety of flowers is found in the arrangement of the anthophiles on the axis, the pigmentation, the presence or absence of one or more flower pieces, their size and their relative capacity. This variety is extremely important in phylogenetic and taxonomic studies of angiosperms.
The flowers grow at any time of the year, whether in spring, fall, summer or winter. In certain countries, the month of February is within the winter time, during this time many plants bloom. The flowers in February are characterized by being beautiful flowers, being an example of this season: amaryllis, wax flower, lilac, Narcissus, among others.
What are the parts of a flower
The flower is only composed of four fundamental parts which are:
The chalice
It is made up of the sepals, which are a group of green leaves at the base of the flower.
Corolla
This part is made up of the petals, which have colored leaves on the inside of the sepals.
Stamens
It is the male organ of a flower, and is made up of a filament with a sac that contains pollen seeds, where the reproductive cell is found.
The structure responsible for the reproduction of plants are the flowers. In them the germination occurs that begins a fruit, which contains the grains from which a new plant of the same species will emerge. Plants that have flowers are called angiosperms.
Some flowers are unisexual, if they have reproductive organs of only one sex, or they can be hermaphroditic, if they have the organisms of both sexes.
Classification of flowers
The classification of flowers depends on the type of plants. First, there are gymnosperms. They do not produce flowers in any phase of their life. Second, there are angiosperms. They are plants that usually bloom when they reach adulthood. Flowers are a means of reproduction and pollination, because insects and other animals take nectar from one flower and transport it to another, thus carrying out an ideal fertilization of the plant.
By its number of petals
In angiosperms there are two kinds of flowers which are easy to recognize with the naked eye. On the one hand, we have the monocots. They have a single cotyledon and their flowers usually have petals a multiple of three. And on the other hand, there are the dicots, said plants, as their name indicates, only have two cotyledons and their flowers have petals in multiples of four or five.
It is important to mention that, when wanting to classify a plant as monocotyledonous or dicotyledonous, it should be borne in mind that many of its petals may be stuck together, or its leaves, to any of the parts of the plant and creates confusion for time to distinguish them.
Type of flowers according to their petals
- Cruciform: they have four identical petals arranged in the shape of a cross. The number of sepals and petals that the flowers have is different from some species to others. The appearance of the crown and calyx help to distinguish the different flowers.
- Flared: the petals are arranged in the shape of a bell. It has reproductive units of both sexes on a single plant.
Gynoean flowers.
- Papillionácea or amariposada: they are those that have five different petals, whose group looks like a butterfly.
- Monoecious flowers: butterfly-shaped flowers with aromatic lips.
- Andromonoic: they have a hermaphroditic and male reproductive structure.
- Subandroicas: they are plants that mostly have male flowers.
- Subginoicas: they are completely opposite plants to the Subandroicas, since they have a greater number of female cells, and have few hermaphrodite or male flowers.
- Polygams: made up of a female, male and hermaphrodite reproduction, showing all of these on the same plant.
Some shrubs have only a female reproductive structure.
Bisexual or hermaphroditic flowers
- Dioecious flowers: very important plants for human consumption such as chickpeas, beans, lentils or peas enter this set. They have flowers that are normally pollinated by bumblebees or bee. Their reproductive unit is monosexual. Its types of petals are "stuffed", because their shape is like a funnel.
- Rosacea: they have five equal, sufficiently wide petals.
- Lipped: made up of five united petals, which separate at the tip into two groups creating a kind of lips.
- Unisexual Flowers: They have a hermaphrodite and feminine structure.
By the time they bloom
There are also other ways to classify flowers, especially for those plants that only bloom annually. We are talking about biennial, perennial, and ephemeral shrubs. Each one of them is related to the time in which they remain in bloom. Certain expert gardeners classify them according to the type of reproduction, whether they are sexual or asexual.
According to an investigation carried out on the arabidopsis thaliana plant, which is a small shrub of the mustard family. The Arabidopsis has small white flowers from the floral stem cell. These cells remain in an initial phase of growth, later they divide into four petals, four sepals, six stamens and two united carpels.
The epigenetic normalization is one of the major mechanisms to regulate flowering time. It controls gene expression through chemical rearrangements of DNA, but without altering or modifying the DNA sequence. DNA is like a book that contains all the information which indicates which pages of the book the cell should study and which ones to ignore over time. The arabidopsis plant has at least 18 of these markers.
In this research it was discovered that the proteins that communicate with these chemical modifications, control the flowering time. One of these proteins is HD9, plants that are lacking in it, flourished before their time.
The most beautiful and well-known flowers
There are a number of beautiful flowers, of different sizes and colors, some are exotic and very striking, so we will mention the ten best known and most beautiful that can be found in the entire world, these are:
Cherry Blossom
The cherry tree are Japanese flowers, and it is a well-known symbol in their culture, and those who also call it Sakura. We are talking about a plant that only blooms in spring. And for the rest of the stations they are covered by cherry leaves, bare in winter and spring is full of beautiful flowers with an aspect of clouds colored pink.
Tulip
The tulip is a basic flower highly valued by florists and plant lovers. They are native to Europe and Asia, but can also be found in certain areas of the Middle East. Today the tulip is cultivated around the world in 100 different species and the flowers sprout from underground bulbs. The diversity of colors it contains ranges from yellow, red, plum, bronze, among others.
Blue roses
Blue roses are quite complicated specimens to obtain in their natural form, which makes them exceptional, special, and in some ways extraordinary. Its evolution through genetic biotechnology was beneficial and of great interest to consumers of blue roses.
Bleeding heart
It is a very peculiar flower, with an open and dripping heart shape. These elegant flowers can be found in Asia, especially in Japan and Siberia, usually in those areas where there is a temperate climate with a little humidity. They do not require much sunlight, they usually bloom in spring and can measure up to about 79 centimeters.
Lily
The lilies are a species belonging to the lily family. These beautiful plants are native to the Mediterranean and can be found in different places on the Asian and European continents.
The lilies have a bulb of good proportion. In addition, its leaves are elongated or lanceolate, having beautiful flowers that can give in bouquets of approximately 15 units each.
Lavender
Lavender is a very varied species, some of them are woolly, toothed and spica. This belongs to the labiate family, which has approximately 20 lavender specials. This flower is native to the Mediterranean area and is found mostly on islands such as the Canaries and the Azores.
Hydrangea
Hydrangea is a decorative plant that comes from South and East Asia; Korea, some areas of China, Indonesia, the Himalayas, as well as different territories in America. There are many kinds and varieties of flowers, it is a flower usually about 3 meters, some are small bushes and others are lianas. Its leaves can be evergreen or deciduous, but those that are more cultivated are usually deciduous.
Delilah
There are many beautiful plants, but few are as elegant as this flower. These plants are sown in the spring time from a bulb. They are very popular shrubs because they show lively and beautiful hues. Delilah is a garden plant, which needs very little care. A wide variety of different sizes can be found, all of which require sufficient sunlight and a soil containing sufficient nutrients.
Gladioli
These are elegant flowers and commonly known to be flowers of the dead, since they are constantly used to adorn graves and tombstones in cemeteries, because they express sadness for the loss of a loved one. In other respects, they can also mean anything from love, crazy eroticism, to strength, integrity and victory.
Sunflowers
Sunflowers belong to the Asteraceae family. These shrubs are native to the American continent and have a robust stem that is always erect. The life span of sunflowers is about 12 months. Although they are plants that have a good size, there are also some that are known as dwarfs, and they are approximately 40 cm in size.
The Meaning of Flowers
Flowers have their own language and each flower can send a different message, such as admiration, respect, friendship, love, etc. Therefore, it can be established that each flower has a meaning and that it is closely related to its color, anatomy and the name they have.
Floriography, also known as the language of flowers, was the name given to a technique through which a message could be transmitted. This medium was used during the Victorian era; and it consisted of using flowers of different types and making flower arrangements to transmit messages in codes, with which you could express feelings that could not be expressed by other means.
The varieties of flowers are many, as is the meaning of each one of them. Among the 10 that stand out the following can be mentioned:
- Poppies: a flower that is related to the woman and her fertility, as well as to tranquility, comfort and he rested.
- Begonia: it is considered a rare flower, it can be observed in various shades and each one of them has a different meaning, the pink ones, for example, represent that a love relationship is on the right track, the white ones on the other hand are considered as symbol of a real friendship and is one of the white flowers for weddings par excellence.
- Lotus Flower: aquatic flower that is related to the spiritual realm, especially in Buddhism. It is considered as a symbol of a body and a pure soul, and it is one of the most popular flowers to color on the body.
- Geranium: means joy, but especially you are acquainted with the satisfaction and joy of sharing time with another person. In the specific case of the red geranium, its meaning is related to constantly thinking about that other person.
- Hydrangeas: It is characterized by being native to lonely and humid places, for that reason it is related to loneliness, however, in recent years it has also been linked to spirituality, which may be due to its beauty and peculiarity. In Asia, specifically in Japan, it is widely used as an element to decorate bridges and gardens, thus symbolizing the way to paradise.
- Orchid: Represents sensuality and love. The red ones are synonymous with sexual desire and the passion that one feels for someone, the yellow ones represent eroticism, while the white ones are purity, whereas the roses are related to the sensuality of women. It is also one of the beautiful flowers to draw.
- Red rose: they are well known as a symbol of love. They indicate an intense passion for another person, as well as love and fieryness. In addition to that, they are popular for being the ideal dead flowers, they have a great prominence for Saints' Day, because they are the symbol of eternal love, which unites us with those who have already left.
- Margarita: indicate simplicity, optimism and innocence, especially of children. There are different colors of daisies, so the main meaning must be added to the one that corresponds to each color, which are: yellow means loyalty, white beauty, pink love, red passion, blue fidelity and multicolored represent the joy of living.
- Gardenia: two meanings are attributed to them which are sweetness and purity. Its origin is Asian and it is considered one of the most beautiful and aromatic flowers in the world, it is often used to represent joy and beauty, in the same way it symbolizes great romanticism between couples.
- White lily: there are many types of lilies, but calla lilies are one of the most stigmata to take to the cemetery, and are considered a type of dead flowers, since it represents sympathy and recognition for those who are not there.
