In some families, like Ranunculaceae, the petals are greatly reduced and in many species the sepals are colorful and petal-like. Many flowers lack some parts or parts may be modified into other functions and/or look like what is typically another part. The four main parts of a flower are generally defined by their positions on the receptacle and not by their function. In addition to facilitating the reproduction of flowering plants, flowers have long been admired and used by humans to bring beauty to their environment, and also as objects of romance, ritual, religion, medicine and as a source of food.Īlthough the arrangement described above is considered "typical", plant species show a wide variation in floral structure. These modifications have significance in the evolution of flowering plants and are used extensively by botanists to establish relationships among plant species. After fertilization, the ovary of the flower develops into fruit containing seeds. Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to cause them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen. Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop. Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization (parthenocarpy). Flowers may facilitate outcrossing (fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals in a population) or allow selfing (fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower). The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms).
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