Difference Between Staminate & Pistillate Flowers

Pistillate Flowers

• A pistillate flower is one that contains the female reproductive parts, that is the pistils, but no male parts. Each pistil consists of an ovary from which rises a tall, narrow tube, called the style. At the top of the style is the stigma, which receives the pollen. The ovary contains one or more ovules, which develop into seeds after pollination and fertilization. A pistillate flower needs pollen from a staminate flower to create seeds.

Staminate Flowers

• Staminate flowers are those that contain only male equipment, the stamen, which consists of the anther and filament. The stamen produces pollen, which must fertilize the female flower to enable it to produce seeds and create the next generation. Some plants, such as asparagus (Asparagus officinalis), spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and willow (Salix), have staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants. Other plants, such as squash (Cucurbita), clematis (Clematis) and begonia (Begonia), have pistillate and staminate flowers on the same plant.

Complete Flowers

• Flowers that are composed of female and male parts are called "complete," "bisexual" or "hermaphroditic." These flowers are considered complete because a single flower has everything it needs to produce a seed by sexual reproduction. Some complete flowers are able to pollinate themselves, whereas others require the help of a visiting insect to spread pollen from flower to flower. The majority of flowering plants fall into this category, including tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), snapdragons (Antirrhinum), petunias (Petunia) and apples (Malus domestica).

Other Flower Parts

• While many of us covet flowers for the beauty they bring to our gardens, botanists view flowers as simply the plant's reproductive unit. In addition to pistils and stamens, flowers have other parts that add to their beauty and reproductive capabilities. The outer ring of flower parts is called the calyx, and is made up of sepals. Sepals often are green, though some flowers, such as iris (Iris) and fuchsia (Fuchsia), have colorful, petal-like sepals. Just inward from the sepals are the petals, known collectively as the corolla. The corolla and calyx together are referred to as the perianth.