Reproduction: How Life Continues
Parts of a flower
Learn the parts of a flower.
Flowering plants (angiosperms) are the most varied group of plants on Earth, and their flowers are their organs of reproduction. (Plants without flowers, such as pines, also reproduce sexually.)
Look at a flower from the outside in. A complete flower has four parts:
| Part | What it is | Its job |
|---|---|---|
| Sepals | The thin green outer covering | Protect the bud |
| Petals | The coloured part, often scented | Attract pollinators |
| Stamen (male) | A stalk (filament) with an anther on top | The anther makes pollen, which carries the male gametes |
| Pistil (female) | Stigma (tip) + style (thin tube) + ovary (swollen base) | The ovary holds ovules, each with an egg cell |
In some flowers the sepals and petals are joined together.
A memory trick: sta-MEN has "men" in it, so it is the male part.
The stigma at the top of the pistil is flat and/or sticky, so pollen grains that land on it stay there.
The stamen is the male part (it makes pollen); the pistil is the female part (its ovary holds the ovules).
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