Blog Post #10 (Noah)

Anthers and Stigmas and Styles, Oh My!

A 'perfect flower' contains both the female and male parts. This flower is considered perfect. 

This is the carpel (female part) of the flower. The top part that looks like a mushroom is called the 'stigma'. The middle shaft-like structure is the 'style'.

These capsules or 'ovules' are inside of the 'ovary'. The ovary is at the bottom of the carpel, and these hold the fertile female cells.

This is the male part of the flower called the 'anther'. Pollen grains come out of these to be collected by stigmas within other plants and, sometimes, the same flower.

My partner, Connor, and I plucked flowers out of the garden out back. We dissected these plants to learn a little more about the anatomy of plants and broccoli flowers themselves. These are called angiosperms, which means that the reproduction takes place within the flower itself. All pollination and fertilization happens on the inside. The male parts, anthers, produce pollen grains which spread to other plants by catching the wind, fur of an animal, or insects (like bees). These pollen grains contain the male cells and genetics capable of making a new plant. Once they are deposited on another plant, the stigma (at the top of the carpel, or female reproductive organ) collects the pollen. Gametophytes develop within the ovules (which are inside the ovaries at the base of the carpel). The male gametophytes within the pollen grains fertilize with the female gametophytes inside the ovaries, and these together form a fertilized zygote that grows into a new plant.