What Is a Flowering Plant?

Lilies are monocots.

Flowering plants are a division of the plant kingdom commonly called angiosperms. Seeds formed within a flower distinguish the flowering plants from the division that forms seeds through cones. The broad leaves of flowering plants are structured for efficient photosynthesis. Flowering plants live all over the world, both on land and in water.

Angiosperms

Flowering plants make up about half of the known plants. These flowering plants, which include garden flowers, weeds, vegetables, broadleaf trees and grasses, are classified as angiosperms. This classification applies to plants with flowers that produce seeds enclosed in fruit. There are 140 families of angiosperms that are further divided into 250,000 species. The families of flowering plants include composites, with species of daisies, dandelions and sunflowers. The rose family incorporates a variety of species, including garden roses, blackberries and many fruit trees such as apple and plum.

Monocots

There are two main classes of flowering plants. Monocots comprise one of the classes and are distinguished by their seeds and roots. A monocot's seeds have a single area for nutrient storage. A corn kernel is an example of a monocot seed. Monocot root systems are fibrous, such as you find with grasses. The stems of an herbaceous monocot are covered in a rind -- as with bamboo and palms -- and its fibrovascular bundles, essentially the veins of the plant stretching from root to stems and leaves, are scattered throughout the stem instead of arranged in a ring.

Dicots

The second classification of flowering plants is dicots. As the prefix "di" implies, the dicot seed has two areas for nutrient storage. Beans are examples of a dicot seed. Other differences include the root structure. A taproot, with or without smaller roots branching off, is typical of a dicot flowering plant. Cut open a dicot stem to find a ring pattern. The fibrovascular bundles in a dicot stem are arranged in a ring around the center of the stem. The outside of a dicot is called an epidermis.

Fruits

Fruits are a way to distinguish flowering plants. Flowering plants have many types of fruits. Simple fruits come from a flower with one pistil, the female part of the flower. Walnuts, peaches, tomatoes and beans are simple fruits. Aggregate fruits come from one flower with multiple pistils. Raspberries, blackberries and strawberries are aggregate fruits. Multiple fruits form from several flowers. Pineapples and figs are examples of multiple fruits.

References

• University of Nevada Las Vegas; Angiosperms; Fred Landau, Staff Botanist
• University of Cincinnati; Angiosperms; J. Stein Carter, 1997
• "Biology: God's Living Creation"; Pensacola Christian College; K. Graham, L. Hicks, D. Shimmin, G. Thompson; 1986