What Are the Functions of Different Kinds of Flowers?

Attract Pollinators

• The primary function of a flower is to attract animals, birds and insects that help pollinate the plant. Flowering plants are either self-pollinators, which means fertilization can occur when pollen from one flower is transferred to the stigma of that same flower or another flower on the same plant, or cross-pollinators, meaning pollen will only fertilize stigmas of other plants, and pollinators help ensure this happens. Flowers attract pollinators, which include bees, hummingbirds and squirrels, through various means, including bright or vivid colors, appealing fragrances, sweet nectar and mimicking the markings or appearance of certain insects to increase the chances of successful pollination.

Contain Reproductive Structure

• Flowers serve as the medium for the reproductive structure of angiosperms, providing an efficient mechanism for the plant's male and/or female sexual organs. A flower's sex is either staminate, meaning the plant bears only male reproductive parts, pistillate or carpellate, meaning it bears only female parts, or hermaphrodite or "perfect," meaning flowers have male and female parts. It is within flowers that the structure and reproductive parts, including pollen, anther, stigma, stamen, filament, ovary and ovules, of angiosperms are cleverly contained.

Create Pollen

• A plant produces pollen, microscopic grains that contain genetic material, on the anther of its flower. Pollen is made up of male gametes, and when these tiny grains fall upon a stigma, the female, receptive part of a flower, that plant is successfully pollinated. Pollen sacs are created in chambers on developing anthers of flowers, and within them pollen grains grow until mature. They burst through the pollen sac to be dispersed.

Purposes of Man

• Since man's earliest history, flowers have played a role in every culture across the globe. From medicines and aromas to decorative objects and sources of food, different kinds of flowers have fulfilled various functions for men and women through the ages. Flowers are valued by man for their aesthetic beauty, natural properties and poetic symbolism, as their functions in society are as varied as their admirers.