Flowering plants or angiosperms are a diverse life form. They include grasses, mosses, ferns, vines, and many others. They make up the largest division in the plant kingdom. Plants are beneficial for other living things on Earth. They provide oxygen, carbon dioxide, shelter, clothing, food and medicine. However, their main purpose is to help the plant reproduce. To do this they go through a cycle of producing seeds, growing, flowering and then producing seeds again. The flowering plant’s parts are divided into two systems, the shoot system and the root system. These two systems are connected by internal tissues that start at the root and end in the shoot.
ROOTS
Roots are the fibrous underground part of the plant. The root system’s job is to collect water and nutrients from the soil through root hairs found on the outside of the root. Roots also anchor the plant to help keep it in the ground. There are plants that also have roots that originate above the ground.
SHOOT SYSTEM
The shoot system is made of the plant stems, leaves and flowers. It is through this system that plants are able to get food for photosynthesis.
The stems provide support for the plant. They also give the passageway for water and nutrients to move throughout the plant. This movement is done with tube-like tissues found here and throughout the plant called xylem and phloem.
Leaves are the actual food factories of the plant. They take light energy and carbon dioxide, and via photosynthesis they create food and release oxygen into the air. Leaves can come in many shapes and forms, however, they almost all consist of a blade, veins and petiole. The blade is the flat extended part of the leaf. The veins give transport for water and nutrients and can be found throughout the leaf. The petiole is the stalk that attaches the leaf to the stem.
Flowers are responsible for seed development and reproduction within the plant. This is the area of the plant where seeds and fruit develop and grow. This then leads to reproduction in the plant. There are four parts of the flower in angiosperms: the sepal, the petal, the stamen and the carpel.
Sepals grow around the flower while the flower is in bud stage. They are usually green and leaf-like. Most look like green petals.
The petals are the colorful part of a flowering plant. This part is often scented so that birds and insects will be attracted to the plant.
The stamen produces pollen. It consists of the filament and an anther. The filament is the stalk that connects and holds up the anther. The anther is a sac that is located at the end of the filament and it contains the pollen.
The carpel has three parts to it named the stigma, the style and the ovary. The stigma is found at the tip of the carpel. It is sticky so that pollen will adhere to it. The style is the slender part of the carpel and leads to the ovary. The ovary is found at the base of the carpel and is where the ovule or egg is found.
Most flowering plants will have all of these parts but there are flowering plants that are called incomplete which may be without one or two of the parts that are listed in this article.
