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version seven. http://demongin.org |
The Discipline Of Flowers
(part 1 of 2)
Thursday, 2005-10-06 | Classic Gin
| This is a tryst: this is discipline... |
As an integral part of their growth process, many seed-bearing plants produce petals or flowers.
Flowers, in and of themselves, are the whole reproductive apparatus of these seed-bearing plants. Whereas animals may have external genitals, internal gonads and mating habits particular to their species and thus a reproductive apparatus that is, despite appearances in many cases, de-centralized, the entire reproductive capacity of certain seed-bearing plants has to do with flowers and flowering.
Flowers, depending on the plant from which they bloom, are composed of either specialized male or female organs or, in some cases, both male and female organs. Regardless of the gender of the organs which a particular plant produces when it flowers, all flowers produce seed.
The outer, enveloping structure of a flower is called the perianth consists of the calyx and corolla. The word calyx comes from the Latin word calix (cup, pot) and is sometimes used to describe certain features of the human anatomy; there is a structure in the human kidney called the calyx because of its cup-like structure. When used to describe the anatomy of a flower, the word calyx is used to refer to the sepals, or petals, as a group. The corolla, the other half of what makes up the perianth, comes from the Latin word corolla (a diminutive form of 'corona, which means garland or wreath) and describes the innermost whorl of the perianth. The corolla is not usually green, but may sometimes be greenish--it is the region of the flower where the petals meet the stem or body of the plant from which it blooms.
If calyx and corolla cannot be distinguished or if the calyx is missing from a flower, it is properly referred to as either an 'incomplete' flower or 'perigon'. Perigon is a term used mostly in mathematics, it refers to an angle of 360 degrees.
Observable, taxonomic features of flowers are determined as much by the manner in which a given plant grows as by the manner in which they actually flower; the structure of the flowering or seed-bearing plant from which a flower blooms is just as important to a flower's appearance as the relative location of the component parts of the flower itself.
Symmetry, which is observable in flowers where the calyx exhibits a correspondence of form and constituent configuration on opposite sides of a dividing line, is a good example of this principle. Symmetry, which is perhaps the most easily observed taxonomic feature of a flower, is determined partially by the manner in which the carpels are fused within the pistil and thus the position of the ovaries relative to one another within the pistil. Depending on the pattern in which the carpels fuse, the sepals may be long and narrow, short and fat, etc. The shape and color of the sepals also depends a great deal upon the plant from which the flower blooms. In all cases, the shape of the corolla and thus of the calyx and the sepals in general depends on the cellular structure of the plant where stem becomes corolla. Color and number of sepals can also be affected thus.
