Morphology of Flowering Plants - Semi-technical description of a typical flowering plant
Review the key concepts, formulae, and examples before starting your quiz.
🔑Concepts
A semi-technical description of a flowering plant must be brief, in scientific language, and presented in a proper sequence: habit, vegetative characters, and then floral characters.
Floral characters include the inflorescence and various flower parts (calyx, corolla, androecium, and gynoecium).
The floral formula is a shorthand representation of the flower structure using symbols. Symmetry is shown as for actinomorphic and for zygomorphic.
The sexuality of the flower is represented as for male, for female, and a combination for bisexual.
Individual parts are denoted as: for Calyx, for Corolla, for Perianth, for Androecium, and for Gynoecium.
The position of the ovary is indicated by a line: for superior ovary and for inferior ovary.
Fusion of floral parts is indicated by enclosing the number within brackets, e.g., for five fused sepals. Adhesion between different whorls is shown by a line drawn above the symbols, e.g., .
📐Formulae
💡Examples
Problem 1:
Interpret the floral formula of a plant belonging to the Solanaceae family:
Solution:
The plant has a bisexual flower with actinomorphic symmetry (). The calyx () has 5 fused sepals (gamosepalous). The corolla () has 5 fused petals (gamopetalous). The androecium () has 5 stamens which are epipetalous (attached to petals, indicated by ). The gynoecium () is bicarpellary, syncarpous (fused), and the ovary is superior ().
Explanation:
Each symbol in the formula corresponds to a specific morphological trait. The brackets signify fusion (connation) of the same parts, while the over-arc signifies the union of different whorls (adnation).
Problem 2:
Construct the floral formula for a flower that is zygomorphic, bisexual, has a perianth with tepals fused, stamens in two whorls attached to the perianth, and a tricarpellary syncarpous superior ovary.
Solution:
Explanation:
The symmetry is zygomorphic (%), sexuality is bisexual, perianth is represented by with parts in two whorls and fused . The stamens are epiphyllous (attached to perianth), and the ovary is superior with 3 fused carpels.