Student Blog Post Assignment #10: Anthers and Stigmas and Styles, Oh My!

Blog Post Assignment #10

Here are the various reproductive parts of the Brassica Oleracea broccoli flower:

This is the flower before dissection.

This is a picture of anthers around the carpel of a Brassica Oleracea flower. Together they form the idolized

beauty of this flower, combining to produce and iconic and powerful subject of life. Here is the heart of the plants

reproductive system.

This is the stamen, the make reproductive part of the flower. The thin, mostly transparent stalk is the filament, and 

the cap at its top is the anther. This section produces the plants pollen, containing the male gametes.

This is the female part of a flower, known as the carpel. The carpel has two parts: a thin stalk called the style and

a sticky rounded tip called the stigma. The stigma is where male pollen grains are collected.

This is a cross-section of the flower's ovary. Everything surrounding the ovary has been stripped away, and the
ovary has been sliced in half to reveal its center. Inside you may see round particles called ovules. These ovules
are small unfertilized seeds of the plant.

 Unlike humans, plants within themselves contain both male and female parts. The male reproductive organ is

called the stamen. The end segment of the stamen is called the anther, which is supported by the filament, a long, 

thin stalk. Inside of the anther, meiosis takes place, producing haploid male gametophytes. Together, the stamens 

of a flower(most have several) produce thousands of these pollen grains. The female piece of a flower is called
the carpel, or pistil. Each carpel has a ovary at its base, containing ovules which produce the female
gametophytes. Above the ovary is a stalk called the style, which is crowned with a sticky piece called the stigma,
a landing spot for pollen grains. Though some rely on wind pollination, the vast majority of angiosperms are
pollinated by animals-mainly insects, birds, and bats. These creatures pick up the male parts from one flower
and transfer them to others, continuing the life cycle of the plant.