The Sexual Organs Of Plants Revealed.

Why Do Plants Display Beautiful Flowers?

Spring time in temperate countries is a time for celebration, the dark cold and wet weather of the dull winter  months are well and truly behind us when spring arrives. For me it’s not just the warmer weather and lengthening days, it’s the promise of  the colour and wafting sweet smells of one of natures greatest gifts to come, the flowers.

Many people take flowers for granted, they don’t really see the true marvel that lies behind a plants necessity to display its wonderful colourful flowers and to emit those irresistible scents. When you do stop and look at the multitude of different flower colours and shapes you see their sheer beauty, all designed to irresistibly attract insects and even small animals to ensure it’s own survival as a species. It prompts you to take a closer look at these marvels of evolution.

A beautiful sky blue flower taken in the fields of Kent, the garden of England.

What exactly is a flower?  Why is it coloured the way it is?  What urges it to produce such a  wonderful aroma? Simply put, the flower is the sexual organ of a plant, it’s from this colourful platform that pollen is generated and exchanged. Flowers attached to plants cannot move around in search of a mate because they are firmly rooted in the earth. This presents the plant with a major obstacle, an obstacle that it deals with in many fascinating ways.

Symbiosis.

A Spanish word meaning two unrelated species evolving together to mutually benefit for survival. The plant generates it’s flowers and odour in order to attract its symbiotic partners. In the majority of plants it is the flying insects they need to attract, and one in particular I’m sure we are all familiar with, is the humble bumble bee.  Bees are tireless in their need to gather nectar from plants, the plants instinctively know this and provide them with an abundance of what they need, for a price, and that price is to take away pollen and deliver it to another flower of a similar plant.

A common red poppy taken in the fields of north Kent England.

Bumble Bees.

If we look up close at a bumble bee we will see that its thorax is covered with fine brush like hairs. These hairs or fur are designed by the plant by natural selection to pick up and deliver pollen. I sometimes think that a bumble bee has much the same sense of sight and smell that we humans have, the bees senses may well be far more developed. They are attracted to the same vivid colours and irresistible aromas that we find so compelling. In short, the bee is driven by its need for nectar and the plant is driven by its need for pollen.

When a bee visits a flower to take away its nectar it has to land on the flower which usually provides a conveniently placed landing pad designed by the bee by natural selection. It then has to go deep into the flower to get it’s prize and in some flowers they may give the bee a clue,  with special markings to follow. When the bee goes about its business the flower picks up from and deposits pollen onto the bees fur ready to be transported to the next flower it visits. The bee is unaware of this but it’s need to survive by taking nectar ensures the plant will always deposit and receive the pollen it so desperately needs to propagate and survive.

The beauty of  flowers will always be a source of great pleasure to many of us and without them our lives would be quite dull. The work of the bees rewards us with great visual and aromatic pleasures. What would we do without these marvels of evolution and nature?

Some excellent field guides for residents of and visitors to Britain.

Collins Complete Guide to British Wild Flowers: A Photographic Guide to Every Common Species
Complete British Wild Flowers
Wild Flowers by Colour: The Easy Way to Flower Identification
The Wild Flower Key: British Isles and North West Europe
Wild Flowers (Pocket Nature)
Wild Flowers: An Easy Guide by Habitat and Colour
Wild Flowers of Britain and Europe (Black’s Nature Guides)
The Wild Flower Key – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
Field Flora of the British Isles
Common Families of Flowering Plants

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