The flower and its functions. Apple flower structure
Since childhood, we love apple trees for their beauty, bulk fruits and fragrance that fill the gardens during flowering. Delicate flowers make us feel beautiful, but plants create them not only for beauty and admiration. The main purpose of a flower is survival.
Content:
- What is the function of a flower
- How does an apple blossom work?
- Apple as a symbol of health and beauty
What is the function of a flower
Flowers perform an important reproductive function: thanks to them, plants live and reproduce. With their shape, bright color and fragrant smell, flowers attract many birds and insects that pollinate them. For example, hummingbirds, bees and butterflies are seduced by bright colors - orange, blue, red, purple and yellow. And at night, when flower smells intensify, flowers become a bait for nocturnal pollinating insects.
Flower shape for insects and birds also plays a role. For example, butterflies prefer flowers with large, flat petals, which are a convenient landing area for them. Tubular elongated flowers sage and honeysuckle attract hummingbirds. These birds have a long beak, and with them they extract nectar from the depths of the flower without any problems.
Flowers exuding a delicate pleasant aroma are nothing more than modified shoots. They are specially created by nature to reproduce different types of flora and establish a life cycle. After pollination by insects, seeds are formed in the flower ovary. They become the basis for the life of new plants.
Likewise, an apple tree forms a small flower, which eventually turns into a fragrant fruit. The seed from the apple falls to the ground and a new tree grows out of it. Here is such a mysterious transformation.
The flower can be tiny and inconspicuous, or bright and large, attracting insects and people. It can be of different shapes, have different structures and colors.
How does an apple blossom work?
In terms of its functionality and structure, the flower is the most perfect organ among other parts of the plant. It is most adapted to different living conditions. With a great variety of plant species with flowers of different shapes and structure, one can notice a similarity in their structure.
The main parts of the flower are the pistil and stamens. The stamen (male organ) is formed by the anther and filament. The pistil (female organ) contains a stigma, columns and an ovary. Inside each ovary there is an ovule, from which a seed develops during fertilization, and a fruit is formed from the walls of the ovary.
Distinguish between staminate - male and pistillate - female flowers. Monoecious plants combine both sexes in a single flower, and dioecious plants - only staminate or pistillate.
Consider a flower apple trees... It has a bisexual color, since both the pistil and stamens are present in the structure of the flower. They are located inside the corolla (petals). The stamens have anthers, which are designed for pollen maturation. The pistil of the apple tree is formed by five columns accreted at the base. In the lower part of the pistil there is an ovary, and on each column there is a separate stigma. After flowering, seeds develop in the ovary.
Around the stamens and pistil, the perianth with leaves of two types is securely located. A corolla is formed from the inner leaves, and a calyx from the outer ones.
The flowers of the apple tree are white or white-pink in color and are collected in inflorescences-shields.
For convenience, biologists have given their designation to each part of the flower and brought it together into a single formula. Knowing the designations, it is possible to compose a formula inherent only to this species for the flowers of different plants.
Apple as a symbol of health and beauty
As a culture, the apple tree was born 4000 years ago and since then it has been a symbol of everything light and joyful, personifies the strength of the family hearth. The apple tree is closely intertwined with our spiritual life, it is fanned by ancient legends and praised in oral folklore by great poets.
The fruits of the apple tree are always associated with fruits from the Garden of Eden, one of which was bitten by Eve and then offered to Adam. This was the beginning of the creation of the world. The apple flower symbolizes the continuation of the human race and all life on earth.
Many folk traditions are associated with the cultivation of apple trees. For example, in Germany there is a custom: when a baby is born, an apple tree is planted. The fate of the baby is determined by how it will grow, develop and bear fruit.
In overseas countries, there is a tradition of eating 40 apples. It is believed that if for each Apple blow and then eat one by one, all your wishes will come true.
In Slavic villages, young girls, in order to improve their beauty, plucked leaves from a blossoming apple tree and woven them into wreaths. Hugging an apple tree, they asked it to share its tenderness and beauty with them. To give birth to a healthy and beautiful baby, a pregnant girl approached a blossoming apple tree and held onto branches.
Maybe that's why the apple tree is so common and every second fruit tree planted is an apple tree. They also say that if you grow a hundred apple trees from the seeds of the same tree, they will all be different.