Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms). The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. Flowers may facilitate outcrossing (fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals in a population) or allow selfing (fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower). Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization (parthenocarpy). Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop. Flowers give rise to fruit and seeds. Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to cause them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen.
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Famous quotes containing the word flower:
“This bud of love by summer’s ripening breath
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“With margeran gentle,
The flower of goodlihood,
Embroidered the mantle
Is of your maidenhood.”
—John Skelton (1460?–1529)
“A girl could only see
That a flower had marred a man,
But what she could not see
Was that the flower might be
Other than base and fetid:”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)