Flowers... It's All About Sex

We want to believe the beauty and fragrance of flowers is for the sole purpose of simply enjoying them. Such a wonderful gift. But the fact is, flowers are the sexual organs of plants, and it's all about attraction. Flowering plants offer useful pollen, bright colors, eye-catching patterns, alluring fragrances and sweet nectar to attract pollinators: That is, bees, hummingbirds, moths, etc. These birds & bees (sound familiar?) are the creatures who spread pollen to other plants, fertilizing them as they go.

The Equipment

Inside a flower's reproductive system are the stamens, or male parts, which produce pollen, and the pistils, or female parts, which contain the ovaries. It's all part of an elaborate plan to avoid self-pollination.

When the pollen from another plant, carried by a passing insect or sometimes the wind, lands on the pistil, an inner pollen tube grows down it's length, carrying the sperm to the egg, and reproduction takes place, producing flower seeds.

The First Flower

In 1998, the fossil of what is believed to be the first flowering plant, or angiosperm, was discovered in Liaoning Province in Northeastern China by paleontologist Sun Ge. The fossil is thought to be roughly 125 million years old. Though it lacks the typical showy petals associated with today's flowers, it has one critical feature: the seeds of the plant are fully enclosed within its female reproductive organs.

China's Gift To The World

Many gardens today are graced with flowering plants which originated in China. Just a few of these are: rhododendrons, forsythias, magnolias, camellias, primroses and viburnums. China boasts some 31,000 native flowering plant species. A third more then the U.S. and Canada combined.