Why Do Some Plants Have Flowers?

By Daily Graphic
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Flowers contain the plant’s reproductive organs which have the most important task - to generate seeds to give life to new plants.


The male organs of the flower, the stamens, produce pollen, which is made up of tiny little grains of powder, usually yellow.


These grains of pollen, carried by the wind, by water or by animals, become ‘intercepted’ by the pistil, the female part of the flower, and these reach the ovary. Seeds form when the pollen comes in contact with an ovule - that is, when an ovule has been fertile.


Flowers are perfumed because their petals contain essentials oils, widely used in the manufacture of perfume.


The oil of the rose, violet and jasmine are the ones widely used for medicines and disinfectants, as well as perfume. A flower’s perfume also attracts pollinating insects, such as bees and wasps.


However, there are some flowers which have an unpleasant smell. For instance, the Stapelia, in order to be pollinated, attracts flies with a smell of bad meat.


Credit : The Big Book of Knowledge.