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Read a perfect flower definition. Study the parts of a flower and learn about types of pollination. See a perfect flower diagram and perfect flower examples.Updated: 11/21/2023
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Perfect Flowers: Crossword Puzzle
This activity will assess your knowledge of the definition, structure, and examples of perfect flowers.
Directions
Complete the crossword by filling in a word that fits each of the given clues. For this activity, you'll need a printer to reproduce the following page. With a pencil and an eraser, neatly write your answers in the boxes provided.
Across
3. The __________ is essential in the reproduction of flowering plants, for it produces pollen grains.
5. The sexual reproduction in flowering plants involves the production of male and female __________.
8. A discrete female structure at the center of a flower capable of receiving pollen and producing fruit is called the __________.
9. The __________ is the enlarged base of a pistil that produces the egg cells.
10. Self-pollination is when __________ from the same plant arrives at the stigma of the same flower.
Down
1. __________ flowers have both male and female structures, allowing them to self-pollinate.
2. The gluey part of a flower that receives the male gamete during pollination is called the __________.
4. Plants cross-pollinate by using the bright color and alluring fragrances of their flowers to attract __________.
6. A __________ is a specialized structure that contains all the reproductive organs of a plant.
7. The __________ carries the pollen grains from the stigma to the ovary of the flower.
Answer Key
What are perfect flowers and imperfect flowers?
Perfect flowers are flowers that include both male and female parts within a single flower. Imperfect flowers are flowers that have only male or only female parts.
What does each part of a flower do?
Flower structures are designed with the intent to maximize fertilization. Perfect flowers include petals and sepals that surround the sexual parts of the flower, which are the pistil and stamen. The pistil is the female part of the flower and the stamen is the male part of the flower.
Explain what a perfect flower is and give an example.
A perfect flower is any flower that has both male and female parts within a single flower. Perfect flowers are very common among flowering plants and include flowers such as roses, lilies, and tulips.
What are the parts of a flower?
Parts of a perfect flower include petals and sepals that surround the flower's sexual parts, which are the pistil and the stamen. The pistil is the female part of the flower and includes the style, the stigma, the ovary, and the ova. The stamen is the male part of the flower and includes the filament and the anther.
Table of Contents
- What Is a Perfect Flower?
- Parts of a Flower
- Perfect Flower Diagram
- Pollination of Perfect Flowers
- Perfect Flower Examples.
- Lesson Summary
There are many types of flowers all over the world, as flowering plants, or angiosperms, are the most diverse group of plants on Earth. This is because flowers are a very successful reproduction strategy, as flowers include male and female gametes, or sex cells, which, when combined, produce genetically diverse seeds. Some flowers are huge and have a strong smell, while others are so small, they don't even look like flowers. Because there are so many different types of flowers, botanists, or plant scientists, use many terms to describe the different types of flowers that exist. One such term is known as a perfect flower. What is a perfect flower? This lesson will discuss what a perfect flower is, the parts included in the structure of a perfect flower, and different examples of perfect flowers seen in nature.
The definition of a perfect flower is a flower that has both male and female parts within the flower structure. This means that perfect flowers have three distinct traits that make them perfect flowers: they make and distribute male gametes in the form of pollen, they make female gametes in the form of ovules which become seeds, and they receive male gametes, or pollen, for fertilization. A flower with only male or female parts is known as an imperfect flower.
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Several key features make up a perfect flower. Here is a bulleted list of the parts shown in the diagram in the following section.
- Pedicel: This is the flower stalk or the stem that is connected to the flower.
- Receptacle: This is the base of the flower where all the parts of the flower are connected. This is also the connection point of the flower to the pedicel.
- Perianth: This is the structure that surrounds and protects the stamen and pistil, which are the internal structures of the flower. The perianth is made of the petals and the sepal or calyx. The petals are usually thin and wide and brightly colored, and the sepal is made of several green leaf-like structures.
- Stamen: This is the male portion of the flower, and is made up of the filament, the anther, and the pollen which are protected within the pollen sack which is also known as the microsporangia. The filament is the stalk that the anther sits on, and the anther is the structure that produces the microsporangia and pollen.
- Pistil: The pistil is the female portion of the flower and is made of the stigma, the style, the ovary, and the ovules. Altogether, the pistil acts like a vase and collects the pollen to fertilize the ovules, which become the seeds. The stigma is the opening of the vase and can be slightly sticky to collect pollen. The style is the neck of the vase and is the road the pollen travels to get to the ovules. The ovary is the outer bell of the vase and protects the ovules as they are fertilized and mature. In true fruit, it is the ovary that swells with sugar and produces fruit.
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Below is a diagram of a flower. This is a simple flower diagram showing a labeled flower. Notice that this is a perfect flower diagram, as it has both the male and female parts included.
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Pollination is the primary way that most plants reproduce. Pollination is when pollen is released from the anther of the flower, either by wind or by pollinators, and is transferred to the pistil of the same flower or the pistil of a different flower. This causes the ovule to be fertilized, which then develops into seeds and fruit. The reason for pollination and fertilization is to increase the genetic diversity of the plant offspring. Two types of pollination lead to varying levels of genetic variation. The two types are self-pollination and cross-pollination. The following sections outline the two different types of pollination that are most common in plants with perfect flowers and include details about what is involved with each one.
Self-Pollination
Self-pollination is when the pollen of a flower then fertilizes the ovules of that same flower. Self-population results in less genetic variation than cross-pollination. In species that self-pollinate, the position of the pistil and stamen do not matter as much as in species that cross-pollinate. Self-pollination begins when the anther opens and releases pollen. The pollen then fertilizes the same flower it was produced from, usually by way of the wind or motion of the plant. Because the pollen has a short destination, there is often little use for pollinators. Plants that self-pollinate include grasses as well as others.
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Cross-Pollination.
Cross-pollination is when pollen is transferred to different flowers for fertilization. This type of pollination usually leads to more genetic diversity. In plants that cross-pollinate, the stigma often grows taller than the anthers, to avoid self-pollination. Some perfect flowers open their anthers and stigmas at different types, also in an attempt to avoid self-pollination. Cross-pollination often requires the aid of a pollinator, which includes a variety of animals including birds and bees, along with many other insects. Plants that cross-pollinate include apples, lilies, and many others.
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The following bulleted list includes examples of flowers that are considered perfect flowers. These perfect flower examples include information about the parts of the flower and how they grow. Notice that, because they are all perfect flowers, there is a common pattern within the structure of these examples.
- Tulips: Tulips are a great example of a perfect flower because all the flower parts are relatively easy to see. Tulips usually have petals in multiples of three and have large anthers that surround a central pistil. The anther and stigma grow to about the same height, and tulips are known to self-pollinate
- Apples: Apple trees are known for their showy display of perfect flowers in the spring that cover each branch. Apple trees in bloom also bring many bees that help pollinate these flowers. Apple blossoms are known to require cross-pollination, which is done with the help of bees.
- Lilies: Lilies come in all shapes and sizes and are a member of the onion family. Like tulips, lilies are perfect flowers with petals that come in multiples of three and have very visible anthers and pistils. Also, like tulips, lilies do self-pollinate but are also known to cross-pollinate by pollinators and by humans hoping to create new varieties.
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Perfect flowers are flowers that have both male and female parts within the flower and are fertilized by pollen from either the same flower or from other nearby flowers. Imperfect flowers are flowers with only male parts or only female parts. Perfect flowers come in all shapes and sizes but have the same pattern of structures. Perfect flowers have petals and sepals that surround the internal parts of the plant, which are connected by the receptacle and are fixed atop a flower stalk known as the pedicle. Inside the flower, there is the pistil which is made up of the female parts, and the stamen which is made up of the male parts. The pistil consists of a vase-like structure, with the stigma as the opening of the vase used to collect pollen, the style as the neck of the vase, and the ovary which holds the ovules that become seeds when fertilized. The stamen is made of the filament which connects to the anther. The anther produces pollen.
Perfect flowers are pollinated in one of two ways. Self-pollination is one type and is when a flower is fertilized by the same pollen it has produced. Tulips are a type of perfect flower that self-pollinates. Cross-pollination is when a flower is fertilized by the pollen of another flower and allows for more genetic variation within the seeds of the plant. Pollinators, such as birds and insects, aid in cross-pollination by bringing the pollen of one flower to the pistil of another. Apple trees are a type of perfect flower that cross-pollinates.
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Video Transcript
What Is a Perfect Flower?
Amateur botanists may see perfection in any flower, but there is a specific meaning to the term ''perfect flower.'' A perfect flower is one that has all three of these traits:
- It makes and distributes male gametes.
- It makes female gametes.
- It receives male gametes.
What is a gamete? A gamete is a sex cell that will unite with another sex cell during the process of sexual reproduction. In this example, gametes are either male or female and look to pair with the opposite type (male cells look for female cells and vice versa).
Flower Anatomy
So a perfect flower produces both male and female gametes (sex cells). Let's take a look at what this really means.
In the flower world, the male reproductive structures are called stamens, and the female reproductive structures are called pistils. The stamens are made up of two parts: the anther and the filament. The anther is the part of the stamen that produces pollen. Pollen is the male gamete, or sex cell. The filament supports the anther to make pollen available to insects that aid in cross-pollination.
The pistils (remember, these are the female structures) are made up of three parts: the stigma, the style, and the ovary. The stigma is the part that catches the pollen. The style is a tube where caught pollen is transferred from the stigma to the ovary. The ovary is located at the base of the style and this is where eggs (the female gametes, or sex cells) are produced and can combine with the pollen when it's present. When the male and female gametes combine, they form a fertilized seed. Because a perfect flower has both the stamens and the pistils, it is capable of producing its own fertilized seed. It's like sexual reproduction without requiring a partner!
Self vs. Cross-Pollination
When a flower has both male and female reproductive parts and can create its own fertilized seed, it is capable of self-pollination, meaning it doesn't require gametes from another plant to reproduce. Some perfect flowers depend entirely on self-pollination.
On the other hand, some perfect flowers are capable of self-pollination but they still try to avoid it. Instead, they rely on cross-pollination, usually aided with the help of insects like bees. In cross-pollination, an insect will visit a flower and pick up pollen that usually sticks to it, and when the insect flies to the next flower, some of that pollen falls off. If it falls off in the vicinity of a pistil and there's an egg waiting in the ovary, then that egg can become fertilized and a seed will develop.
Perfect flowers that rely on cross-pollination for reproduction may keep their male and female structures physically separated to reduce the risk of self-pollination, or they may produce each gamete at different times. In some cases, a perfect flower will self-pollinate but the seed will not be viable (meaning it's not capable of growing into a new plant).
Now we know that a perfect flower produces both male and female gametes, so it makes sense that an imperfect flower is one that has only male structures and gametes or only female structures and gametes.
Perfect Flower: Examples
Let's look at some examples of perfect flowers. Many of the flowers you encounter on a daily basis have both male and female reproductive structures, making them perfect flowers. These include roses, tulips, lilies, orchids, apples, and cherries, among many others.
Lesson Summary
Okay, let's review what we've learned about perfect flowers. As we learned, perfect flowers are those that have both male and female reproductive structures. They produce both male and female gametes, which are sex cells that unite with other sex cells during the process of sexual reproduction, and they're capable of receiving male gametes from other flowers. In terms of the, well, terminology, we also learned the following about plant reproductive structures:
- Stamens, which are the male reproductive structures
- Pistils, which are the female reproductive structures
- The anther, which is the part of the stamen that produces pollen
- Pollen, which is the max gamete, or sex cell
- The filament, which supports the anther to make pollen available to insects that aid in cross-pollination
- The stigma, which is the part that catches the pollen
- The style, which is a tube where caught pollen is transferred from the stigma to the ovary
- The ovary, which is located at the base of the style and is where eggs (the female gametes, or sex cells) are produced and can combine with the pollen when it's present
We also learned how some perfect flowers rely solely on self-pollination, meaning they use their male and female gametes to develop fertilized seeds. Other perfect flowers still rely on cross-pollination for reproduction, in which an insect will visit a flower and pick up pollen that usually sticks to it, and when the insect flies to the next flower, some of that pollen falls off, fertilizing a plant's egg cell. Many flowers we are familiar with are examples of perfect flowers, such as roses, lilies, orchids, tulips, apples, and cherries, among others.
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