Parts of a flower

These are the key parts of a hermaphrodite flower:

In monoecious and dioecious plants the flowers will contain either the male or the female parts, not both in the same flower as shown here. There are many variations to the arrangement of flowers, in particular conifers differ significantly as they do not bear flowers, but instead usually have male and female cones.

These are the roles of each of the flower parts:

Pedicel/peduncle

This is the stalk which supports the flower. Where this is a solitary flower (eg a daffodil) it is called a peduncle. Where there is a grouping of flowers, each flower is attached to a stalk called a ‘pedicel’, the pedicels are then attached to a peduncle, which attaches the group of flowers and pedicels to the rest of the plant.

Receptacle

This supports all parts of the flower and attaches them to the pedicel/peduncle.

Sepal

These are small, petal like structures which sit below the petals and often form the covering of the flower when it is in bud form. They are often green and relatively thick. Collectively these form the calyx.

Petals

These are the larger, usually colourful structures which surround the fertile parts of the flower. When brightly coloured this is usually to attract pollinators to the flower. Collectively these form the corolla.

Perianth

This is the collective term for the calyx and corolla.

Tepal

Where the sepals and petals are fused into one structure these are called tepals, although they actually just look like petals without sepals below them. Tulips are examples of plants with tepals.

Filament

This stalk supports the anthers and holds them at the right height to maximise pollination opportunities.

Anther

This structure produces the pollen sacs which will release pollen to fertise the female ovule.

Ovary

This is the female structure which contains the ovule, which contains the egg cells to be fertilised by the male pollen. The ovule eventually develops into a seed and the ovary into a fruit.

Style

This is the long structure which reaches from the ovary to the stigma. The pollen landing on the stigma must travel through the style to reach the ovary.

Stigma

The stigma is covered with a sticky substance which the pollen sticks to and feeds from before travelling down the style to fertilise the egg cell in the ovule.