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Laboratory 25

Angiosperms and the Flower

Introduction
Angiosperms (flowering plants) constitute the largest subdivision of the plant kingdom. The group
includes an estimated 200,000 species and it comprises the most conspicuous part of the vegetation in
most of the land areas of the world except for those parts dominated by coniferous forests. Angiosperms
are the direct or indirect source of nearly all food for humans and most higher animals. In addition,
angiosperms provide textile fibers, hardwood lumber and pulp, spices, drugs, and raw materials for
countless manufactured products.
Angiosperms can be distinguished from other plant groups by a combination of characteristics including
the following:
 Seeds develop encased within a
fruit.
 Flowers are produced, although
they are not necessarily colorful
and conspicuous.
 A "double fertilization" involving
two male gametes is normally
required to produce the embryo and
the endosperm of one seed.
 Most species have vessels in their
water conducting tissue.
Angiosperms are divided into two major
subgroups: dicots and monocots.
Approximately three-fourths of the
species belong to the former subgroup,
but both subgroups are large and
diverse, including many orders,
families, and genera.

Exercises
A. Insect Pollinated Flowers
Insect-pollinated flowers are more
familiar to most people than those
pollinated by wind. They tend to be
larger, and to have brightly colored
parts, petals typically, which attract the
attention of insects. No particular
flower can be considered typical in
every respect, so there is a flower
model provided in lab to help study
flower parts at their simplest and most
obvious (see Figure 25-1).

Figure 25-1. Flower Parts, "Model" Dicotyledon.

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1. Flowers with Separate Petals and Sepals

Examine and then dissect the flower provided.
a. Flower Parts
The basal stalk of the flower, the pedicel, is very short. A pair of green modified leaves called bracts is
attached to the pedicel. Bracts are not considered “real” flower parts since they are attached below the
receptacle of the flower. The receptacle is the expanded base of the flower to which the other flower
parts are attached. Note that the ovary of the gladiola appears to be sunken into the receptacle and lies
below the other flower parts. It is described as an inferior ovary, referring to its position below the other
flower parts. A short tube consisting of the fused base of sepals, petals, and stamens extends above the
receptacle and ovary. The three sepals and the three petals are quite similar in color and shape. They
alternate with each other (sepal—petal—sepal, etc.) in a circle around the flower; the sepals lie slightly
outside the petals. Three stamens are attached inside the base of the sepals and petals. Each stamen
consists of a narrow filament and an expanded anther. Pollen is produced in the two anther sacs. The
style of the pistil ascends
through the center of the
flower. It is capped by the
three-lobed stigma.
Pollen grains adhere to
the stigma and germinate
here, with the pollen tubes
eventually growing down
through the style to the
ovary. Label Figure 25-2.
Look for similarities and
differences between the
gladiola and the model
flower.
b. Ovary Cross Section
Make a cross-section
through the ovary of the
gladiola flower. Note that
the ovary contains three
cavities and three double
rows of ovules. The
pistil of the gladiola is
composed of three
carpels. A sepal, a petal,
a stamen, and a carpel
each represent a modified
leaf. A carpel represents
a modification of a leaf
that bears ovules along its
two lateral margins. It is
rolled inward, fusing along
the two lateral margins,
thereby creating a double
row of ovules along this
suture and forming a
hollow chamber or cavity.
Figure 25-2. Gladiola Flower (One Sepal and Two Petals Removed
The fact that three carpels
and Ovary Sectioned).
or modified leaves have
been fused into a single
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unit, a compound pistil, is indicated by the

three double rows of seeds, the three
cavities, and also by the three stigma lobes
atop the style. Label 25-3.
2. Flowers with Fused Petals or Sepals
Examine the flower of a snapdragon or a
butter-and-eggs plant. (If recently thawed
frozen flowers are used, place them in a
dish of water to counteract their limpness.)
These flowers are more highly specialized to
limit pollination to a few insects, primarily
bees (bees are efficient pollinators, tending
to visit flowers of one species at a time).
These flowers have a bilateral symmetry (a
right side and a left side) rather than nearly
radial symmetry of the gladiola. Five green
sepals are partially fused at the base of the
flower. The five petals are fused together
toward the base. Two of these petals form
the top and the upper lip of the flower; the
other three petals form the lower lip, which
includes the landing area for the insect.
Nectar is produced near the base of the
petal tube in the snapdragon and at the tip
Figure 25-3. Compound Pistil Evolution. a. Seed
of a downward pointing projection of the
Leaf. b. Modification into Simple Pistil (One
petal tube, which is called a nectar spur in
Carpel). c. Compound Pistil with Three Carpels.
the butter-and-eggs.
Slit and open the petal tube. Note that the four stamens and the style arch along the upper side of the
petal tube in ideal position to deposit or remove pollen grains from hairs on the back of a bee as it crawls
toward the nectar.
Note that the ovary of the pistil lies inside the petal tube with the sepals, and petals attached to the
receptacle below it. Because it sits above the base of these other flower parts, it is referred to as a
superior ovary. Cut a cross-section through the ovary. Note that it consists of two chambers or
cavities; the pistil therefore is a compound pistil composed of two carpels. Label Figure 25-4.

Figure 25-4. Snapdragon Flower, Longitudinal Section

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B. Wind-Pollinated Flowers
Wind-pollinated flowers are usually small, drab-green or brown, and without petals. Showy petals have
no attraction to the wind. Anthers and stigmas, however, are usually relatively large since pollination by
wind is hardly efficient.
1. Grass Flower
Examine the flowers and spikelets of
oats. The flower of oats and other
grasses is reduced to the essential
parts for pollination and seed
production: three stamens, and a
pistil of one ovary and two feather-like
stigmas. Each flower is enclosed by
two scales, the larger lemma and the
smaller palea, forming a floret; two
or three florets occur above two
empty scales called glumes. The
whole unit of florets and paired
glumes comprise a spikelet. See
Figure 25-5. Figure 25-5. Grass Flowers. a. Spikelet with Glumes
2. Other Wind-Pollinated Spread to Expose Three Florets. b. Floret Detail.
Flowers.
Observe other examples of wind-pollinated flowers on demonstration. Remember that it is such
inconspicuous flowers that may cause hay fever, not showy, colorful flowers that are pollinated by insects
such as goldenrods and roses.

C. Composite Heads
Most of the approximately 25,000 species of the daisy or sunflower family, one of the two largest families
or angiosperms, have tiny flowers aggregated into a larger unit, a composite head, which superficially
resembles a large single flower. Examine the sunflower heads on demonstration. The several whorls of
small leaves on the lower half of the head are bracts. The small individual flowers, or individual fruits in a
head at a late stage of maturity, are attached to a common disk-shaped receptacle. The individual
flowers have an inferior ovary that will develop into a single-seeded fruit. At the top on the rim of the
ovary or fruit is the pappus: a group of scales here, but more commonly hairs or bristles in other species.
The pappus represents modified sepals. The five petals are united into a short tube. Each of the flowers
at the outermost edge of the head have the five fused petals greatly elongated to project to the outside of
the head thereby stimulating a single petal and helping to make the head resemble a single large flower.
The flowers of this outer circle are referred to as ray flowers or as ligulate flowers; they are often sterile
or contain pistils only. The remainder of the head is composed of disk or tubular flowers that have
petal tubes terminating in five short lobes. Five stamens arise inside the petal tube and are fused by their
anthers around the style. The style divides above the anthers to bear two stigmas. In less mature
composite heads the tubular flowers in the center may still be in a closed bud stage of development.
Observe other examples of composite heads and label Figure 25-6.
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D. Stamen and Pollen

The gametophyte stage of the alternation-of-generations life cycle is at its shortest and most reduced in
the angiosperms compared with other members of the Plant Kingdom. Study the sequence of slides
listed below showing this part of the angiosperm life cycle.
(1) Examine a slide of lily (Lilium) anthers containing microspore mother cells. Note that the anthers
consist of four sacs. All tissue, including the microspore mother cells, is diploid at this stage.
(2) Examine the second slide in the sequence showing stages of meiosis in the microscope mother cells.
Meiosis in each microspore mother cell results in a set of four haploid microspores.
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(3) Examine the slide of lily (Lilium) anther containing

mature pollen grains. Each pollen grain is derived from a
microspore. It has a thickened outer wall with small spiny
protrusions. By this stage the haploid nucleus has
divided once by mitosis to produce a young
microgametophyte. One of the two nuclei is called the
tube nucleus. It is destined to govern growth of the pollen
tube. The other nucleus, the generative nucleus, will
divide again to become the two sperms. When the pollen
grains are mature the Lilium anther splits lengthwise
along the outer edge to permit the release of the pollen.
Label Figure 25-7.
(4) Examine the slide showing a mixture of pollen grains.
Note variations in size and wall texture. The slide
includes pine pollen, recognizable by the two lateral
wings, and also pollen of a species in which the four
microspores failed to separate after meiosis, producing a
tetrad of pollen grains. Label Figure 25-8.
(5) Observe a slide showing germinated pollen grains
with emerging pollen tubes. Germination normally takes
place on a stigma and the pollen tube grows through the
style to the ovary. After the generative nucleus has
divided to become sperm, the pollen grain and tube is
regarded as a mature microgametophyte (male
gametophyte). Fresh pollen often can be induced to
germinate in a sugar solution. Make a wet mount and
observe living germinating pollen if available.

Figure 25-7. Lily Anther Cross Section.

a. Youthful, Spore Mother Cells. b.
Developing, Meiosis. c. Mature, at
Pollen Release.

Figure 25-8. Lily Pollen Cross Section.

E. Ovule and Megagametophyte Development

Study the sequence of slides on demonstration showing the development of the ovule and the
megagametophyte (female megagametophyte). Examine slides showing the developing ovule. The
ovule grows from the inner wall of the ovary. It includes a stalk region called the funiculus and spheroid
mass of cells called the nucellus surrounded by two cup-shaped layers called integuments. The gap
between the integuments is called the micropyle.
A central cell within the nucellus enlarges and becomes the megaspore mother cell. Meiosis occurs here
and three of the four resulting megaspores die in most species. The remaining megaspore usually
divides three times to produce eight haploid nuclei. In the mature megagametophyte (sometimes called
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the embryo sac) the eight nuclei are separated into a set of three, including the egg nucleus, at one end
near the micropyle, a set of three at the other end, and a pair in the middle, the polar nuclei. At
fertilization two sperm enter from the pollen tube. One sperm fuses with the egg cell to form the zygote
(which will grow into the seedling) and the other fuses with the polar nuclei to form the endosperm. Label
Figure 25-9.

Figure 25-9. Lily Pistil Sections. a. Cross Section of Ovary. b. Longitudinal

Section of Pistil. c. Detail of Ovule at Time of Double Fertilization.
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F. Angiosperm Diversity
Among the reasons for the angiosperms' domination of most of the land areas of the world are their
diversity and adaptability of growth forms. Angiosperms include trees, shrubs, vines and herbs; annuals,
biennials, and perennials; autotrophs, saprophytes, parasites and "carnivores"; and forms adapted to
living in water, in deserts, and on tree branches. Observe the demonstrations of angiosperm diversity.

KEY WORDS

fruit palea
flower floret
double fertilization glume
vessel spikelet
dicot (dicotyledon) composite head
monocot (monocotyledon) pappus
pedicel ray flower (ligulate flower)
bract disk flower (tubular flower)
receptacle funiculus
ovary embryo sac
inferior ovary
superior ovary
sepal
petal
stamen
filament
anther
style
stigma
ovule
pistil
carpel
compound pistil
bilateral symmetry
radial symmetry
nectar
nectar spur
lemma
Answer Sheet, Laboratory 25
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