How do flowers reproduce? (BioE80 Spr2015)
May 26, 2015 • 11:12 PM UTC
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ceogren
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All around us flowers decorate nature. Their brilliant colors and intricate shapes
bring color and beauty to the outdoors. But what lies beneath this colorful exterior?
What are the inner workings of flowers? And more specifically how do they
reproduce?
In order to answer these questions we collected a variety of different flowers
around campus and stripped away the exterior parts in order to reach the hidden
interior reproductive parts of these flowers. As we did so we became most
interested in the long, thin string-like structures that occur in groups and surround
a singular, thicker structure. We collected such samples from many different flowers
and observed the different physical parts that compose this thin structure. We found
that it consists of a long stem (bottom left picture) that serves to hold up a shorter but more robust piece
heavily coated in pollen (bottom right picture). We postulated that this layout enables the pollen to be held
as close as possible to both the flower’s own reproductive parts, and also to the
exterior environment of the flower. Such proximity would enable the most efficient
self-pollination and pollination of surrounding flowers as well.
Our photos clearly document the structure and imply potential functions of the long,
stringy structures that compose the flower’s reproductive system, but something
that has yet to be discovered is the structure and function of the larger, singular,
central structure. This knowledge is the other essential half of the puzzle required to
fully understand the reproductive workings of these colorful ornaments that
decorate our daily lives.
Exploration by Katie Donahue and Curtis Ogren
bring color and beauty to the outdoors. But what lies beneath this colorful exterior?
What are the inner workings of flowers? And more specifically how do they
reproduce?
In order to answer these questions we collected a variety of different flowers
around campus and stripped away the exterior parts in order to reach the hidden
interior reproductive parts of these flowers. As we did so we became most
interested in the long, thin string-like structures that occur in groups and surround
a singular, thicker structure. We collected such samples from many different flowers
and observed the different physical parts that compose this thin structure. We found
that it consists of a long stem (bottom left picture) that serves to hold up a shorter but more robust piece
heavily coated in pollen (bottom right picture). We postulated that this layout enables the pollen to be held
as close as possible to both the flower’s own reproductive parts, and also to the
exterior environment of the flower. Such proximity would enable the most efficient
self-pollination and pollination of surrounding flowers as well.
Our photos clearly document the structure and imply potential functions of the long,
stringy structures that compose the flower’s reproductive system, but something
that has yet to be discovered is the structure and function of the larger, singular,
central structure. This knowledge is the other essential half of the puzzle required to
fully understand the reproductive workings of these colorful ornaments that
decorate our daily lives.
Exploration by Katie Donahue and Curtis Ogren
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