Flowering plants form the largest part of plants on Earth with about 350,000 described species, with more than 2,000 new taxa formalized each year. Flowering plants, or phanerogams, include trees and grasses because these plants also produce flowers, although sometimes more discreet. These are the Angiosperms. A flowering plant, after the flowering stage, produces fruits after pollination.

A flowering plant, the military orchid: :

Flowering plants include most plants with a root system, such as orchids, trees, and herbaceous plants. Flowering plants are synonymous with angiosperms.

Explanations and generalities

Flowering plants are found mainly in terrestrial ecosystems, such as forests, but also in aquatic biotopes with eelgrass.

Flowering plants, unlike non-flowering plants such as ferns, mosses (and lichens) and algae, have highly differentiated tissues that are specialized in a very specific function.

The vegetative system consists of roots, stems, leaves and a reproductive organ; the reproductive system is arranged on highly modified branches, the flowers, which produce seeds. This is why this group is often called spermatophytes or higher plants.

See the list of flowering plants in photos.

Morphological characteristics

The floral morphology is typical of a flowering plant. The flower of the angiosperm is characterized by a pedicel born in the axil of a bract, which ends in a receptacle bearing the whorls or spirals of the sepals, petals, stamens and carpels in that order. The sepals and petals are sterile leaves not present in the rest of the spermatophytes.

Usually, the sepals are green and photosynthetic, and have a function of protecting the bud (like a cocoon) when the flower is still forming, while the petals are showy and colorful, and have the function of attracting pollinating agents, usually animals. The stamens usually consist of a filament and an anther, and the anther has 4 microsporangia (pollen sacs) connected by connective tissue. The male gametophyte is reduced to three cells (two are spermatic and the third forms the pollen tube). The carpels are usually closed leaves that hold the eggs inside, differ in a surface prepared to receive the pollen stigma, a neck (the style) prepared to push the pollen tube into the ovules, and a chamber that houses the ovules called the ovary. The female gametophyte (“embryo sac”) is usually reduced to seven cells. The ovules are attached to the ovary wall by tissue sometimes called the placenta, and the form of attachment (or “placentage types”) is useful in determining families. This placentation should not be confused with the placenta that binds the embryo to the female gametophyte (characteristic of all embryophytes).

The phenomenon of double fertilization occurs in angiosperms. This means that the two sperm nuclei that release the pollen grain fertilize one to the ovule (producing the zygote that will give the future adult sporophyte) and the other to a diploid cell, producing a 3n (triploid) reserve tissue called endosperm.

Many angiosperms have xylem vessels as well as tracheids, a derived character within the group. In green plants, water can move without having to cross a membrane, making them very efficient at transporting fluids within the sporophyte but probably more susceptible to damage (especially by air embolism) when subjected to water stress.

The phloem of angiosperms differs from that of all other plants in that the sieve tube elements (which are living cells but without a nucleus, responsible for transporting sugars) are accompanied by one or more cells arising from the same stem cell as the element.

Glossary: ​​A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Synonyms, antonyms

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