Parts of a Flower

The outside of a flower that can be seen easily consists of petals, the colored part of the flower, and the sepals, the small green structures that look like little petals at the base of the flower.

Inside a flower is the pistil, or the female parts of the flower. The pistil looks like a vase with a long neck. The top of this "vase" is called the stigma. The long neck is called the style. The bottom, fatter part of the vase is the ovary and contains the ovules, or eggs.

Also inside the flower are the male parts of the flower, called the stamens. The stamen consists of the anther and the filament. The filament looks like a stiff, standing piece of string. On top of the filament is a rounded ball of pollen called the anther. The pollen is usually a bright yellow or orange color.

Pollinators like bees, animals, and birds come and gather pollen from the flowers. The pollen sticks to their bodies. When they go to visit another flower to gather more pollen, the pollen from the previous flower drops into the pistil of the new flower, fertilizes the eggs inside the ovary, and seeds are made.