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Lesson: Chapter 14 — Continuity of Life

14.2. The flower 5 of 6

Flowers with one sex or both

Not every flower carries both reproductive whorls. Flowers are sorted by which of the two they have.

Bisexual flowers

Flowers having both the male and the female parts are called bisexual flowers.

Examples — hibiscus, passion fruit, chilli, agati.

Unisexual flowers

Flowers having only one of the male and female parts are called unisexual flowers. These are of two kinds.

  • Staminate flowers — flowers with the male part, the androecium.
    Examples — the false flowers of pumpkin; the flowers that bloom at the tip of maize, on the tassel.
  • Pistillate flowers — flowers with the female part, the gynoecium.
    Examples — the flowers of pumpkin from which the fruit forms; the flowers of maize from which the cob forms.

The pumpkin tells you which is which

A gardener knows the pistillate pumpkin flower on sight, because it has a tiny pumpkin already behind it — the ovary, waiting. The staminate flower sits on a plain stalk and drops off. The same test works on any plant with separate flowers.