Flowering Plants

Flowering plants or angiosperms, are the most successful of all the plants. Angiosperms reproduce using seeds that develop in the ovaries of their flowers.

Flowering plants, or angiosperms, are among the most successful group of organisms on Earth. Angiosperms include most of our garden plants, farm crops, and the flowers that are often grown for decoration. They range in size from tiny pond-weeds to large trees such as birches and oaks. The name angiosperm is Greek for 'enclosed seed'. The developing embryos of angiosperms are enclosed in special structures, called seeds, within the flower. After fertilization, the seeds are protected inside a fruit. Flowering plants therefore have a lower-risk survival strategy than other plant species, which probably account for their success.

Flowering plants believed to have evolved from a now extinct group of conifers that lived around 250 million years ago. This period is known as the Permian Period. As they evolved, flowering plants came to have a large influence on other living organisms. Many animal eat the plants or feasted on the nectar they produced. Other used plants for shelter. For animals, including humans, the world would be less rich without flower.