What Is the Part of the Plant That Is Found at the Center of the Flower?
Flowers exist to perpetuate their species, so all parts of a flower, either directly or indirectly, have something to do with reproduction. Parts such as petals that have only indirect involvement are termed accessory organs. The middle of the inside of a flower, though, always features parts crucial for reproduction. These organs are male and female, as flowers reproduce sexually. Does this Spark an idea?
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Androecium and Gynoecium
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The center of a hermaphrodite flower. Flowers can be male, female or hermaphroditic, with both male and female parts in one flower. If the flower is hermaphroditic, both an androecium and gynoecium will be found at the center of the flower. The female gynoecium is often composed of only one structure, this found at the very center. Ringing it will be the male androecium.
Androecium
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The stamens of a flower contain pollen. If a flower is male, the androecium will be at the center of a flower. Androecium refers to a group of stamens, the male reproductive organs. The stamen itself has two parts, a filament, which is analagous to a stem, and the anther, the roundish and often lobed structure being supported by the filament. The anther produces pollen, and that pollen contains sperm.
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Gynoecium
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The gynoecium is at the center of both female and hermaphroditic flowers. If a flower is either female or hermaphroditic, the gynoecium will be at the center. The gynoecium is composed of one or more carpels, which themselves are composed of one or more pistils, the pistils fused together. The pistil of a flower is roughly like a sealed champagne bottle, with a swelled base (the ovary), a slim neck (the style) and a bulge at the top (the stigma). The stigma catches pollen, the sperm of which makes its way down the style, where ovules await fertilization in the ovary. Once fertilization occurs, fruit and seed develop.
Perianth
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Sepals protect rosebuds that surround a rose boasting a beautiful, many-petaled corolla. The perianth is a grouping of accessory flower organs made of the calyx and corolla. Since they aren't strictly necessary for reproduction, some flowers may be missing one or both. However, if the flower does possess these parts, they can be found by turning a flower so the opened part faces down. In the center of the flower's underside is the the calyx, composed of sepals, which enclose and protect flowers in the bud. Taking off the sepals leaves the corolla, a term used to refer to a collective group of petals.
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References
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