Plant reproductive morphology is the study of the physical form and structure (the morphology ) of those parts of plants directly or indirectly concerned with sexual reproduction .
38-496: Greenbriar may refer to: Smilax , a plant genus commonly called greenbriar Places [ edit ] Greenwood/Greenbriar, Calgary , Alberta, Canada Greenbriar, Florida , U.S. Greenbriar, Atlanta , Georgia, U.S. Greenbriar Mall Greenbriar Lake , Texas, U.S. See also [ edit ] Brier (disambiguation) Greenbrier (disambiguation) The Greenbriar Boys , bluegrass band Topics referred to by
76-528: A four-celled ovary. Since only female plants are able to set fruit and produce berries, this has consequences for gardeners. Amborella represents the first known group of flowering plants to separate from their common ancestor. It too is dioecious; at any one time, each plant produces either flowers with functional stamens but no carpels, or flowers with a few non-functional stamens and a number of fully functional carpels. However, Amborella plants may change their "sex" over time. In one study, five cuttings from
114-401: A male plant produced only male flowers when they first flowered, but at their second flowering three switched to producing female flowers. In extreme cases, almost all of the parts present in a complete flower may be missing, so long as at least one carpel or one stamen is present. This situation is reached in the female flowers of duckweeds ( Lemna ), which consist of a single carpel, and in
152-441: A perianth. (See the illustration of Alnus serrulata .) Most hollies (members of the genus Ilex ) are dioecious. Each plant produces either functionally male flowers or functionally female flowers. In Ilex aquifolium (see the illustration), the common European holly, both kinds of flower have four sepals and four white petals; male flowers have four stamens, female flowers usually have four non-functional reduced stamens and
190-459: A traditional soda-like Cuban beverage called pru. The roots may also be used in soups or stews. The young shoots can be eaten raw or cooked and are said to taste like asparagus , and the berries can be eaten both raw and cooked. Stuffed smilax pancake, or fúlíng jiābǐng ( simplified Chinese : 茯苓夹饼 ; traditional Chinese : 茯苓夾餅 ), is a traditional snack from the Beijing region. S. glabra
228-730: Is Asparagus asparagoides , which looks similar to Smilax but is from a different family. In 18th century England , a type of beer called china-ale was made by infusing china-root and coriander seeds in ale. Plant sexuality Among all living organisms, flowers , which are the reproductive structures of angiosperms , are the most varied physically and show a correspondingly great diversity in methods of reproduction. Plants that are not flowering plants ( green algae , mosses , liverworts , hornworts , ferns and gymnosperms such as conifers ) also have complex interplays between morphological adaptation and environmental factors in their sexual reproduction. The breeding system, or how
266-571: Is dioecious . However, only about one in three colonies have plants of both sexes. Plants flower in May and June with white/green clustered flowers . If pollination occurs, the plant will produce a bright red to blue-black spherical berry fruit about 5–10 mm in diameter that matures in the fall. The genus has traditionally been considered as divided into a number of sections , but molecular phylogenetic studies reveals that these morphologically defined subdivisions are not monophyletic . Subdivision
304-503: Is a tiny female gametophyte. Carpels may be called the "female" parts of a flower and collectively form the gynoecium. Each carpel in Ranunculus species is an achene that produces one ovule, which when fertilized becomes a seed. If the carpel contains more than one seed, as in Eranthis hyemalis , it is called a follicle . Two or more carpels may be fused together to varying degrees and
342-590: Is best considered in terms of clades (A–D), corresponding to biogeography , with the main divisions being Old World (clades C, D) and New World (clade B) with the exception of S. aspera , that appears to be sister to all other species (clade A) and has a tri-continental disjunction . Section Smilax includes " woody ", prickly vines of temperate North America, for example cat greenbrier ( S. glauca ) and common greenbrier ( S. rotundifolia ). Section Nemexia includes unarmed herbaceous plants of temperate North America, for example " carrion flowers " like
380-432: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Smilax About 300–350 ( see list ) Smilax is a genus of about 300–350 species , found in the tropics and subtropics worldwide. They are climbing flowering plants , many of which are woody and/or thorny, in the monocotyledon family Smilacaceae , native throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of
418-521: Is rubbery in texture and has a large, spherical seed in the center. The fruit stays intact through winter, when birds and other animals eat them to survive. The seeds are passed unharmed in the animal's droppings. Since many Smilax colonies are single clones that have spread by rhizomes , both sexes may not be present at a site, in which case no fruit is formed. Smilax is a very damage-tolerant plant capable of growing back from its rhizomes after being cut down or burned down by fire . This, coupled with
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#1732855599517456-720: Is used in Chinese herbology . It is also a key ingredient in the Chinese medical dessert guīlínggāo , which makes use of its property to set certain kinds of jelly . The powdered roots of Jamaican sarsaparilla are known as Rad. Sarzae. Jam. in pharmacy and are used as a traditional medicine for gout in Latin American countries. Köhler's Medicinal Plants of 1887 discusses the American sarsaparilla ( S. aristolochiifolia ), but as early as about 1569, in his treatise devoted to syphilis ,
494-653: The Persian scholar Imad al-Din Mahmud ibn Mas‘ud Shirazi gave a detailed evaluation of the medical properties of chinaroot. Diosgenin , a steroidal sapogenin , is reported from S. menispermoidea . Other active compounds reported from various greenbrier species are parillin (also sarsaparillin or smilacin ), sarsapic acid , sarsapogenin and sarsaponin . Due to the nectar-rich flowers, species like S. medica and S. officinalis are also useful honey plants . The common floral decoration sometimes known as “smilax”
532-480: The coevolution of flowers and their insect pollinators . Plants have complex lifecycles involving alternation of generations . One generation, the sporophyte , gives rise to the next generation, the gametophyte asexually via spores . Spores may be identical isospores or come in different sizes ( microspores and megaspores ), but strictly speaking, spores and sporophytes are neither male nor female because they do not produce gametes . The alternate generation,
570-538: The sperm from one plant fertilizes the ovum of another, depends on the reproductive morphology, and is the single most important determinant of the genetic structure of nonclonal plant populations. Christian Konrad Sprengel (1793) studied the reproduction of flowering plants and for the first time it was understood that the pollination process involved both biotic and abiotic interactions. Charles Darwin 's theories of natural selection utilized this work to build his theory of evolution , which includes analysis of
608-431: The carpels are missing, vestigial or otherwise non-functional. Each flower is either staminate (having only functional stamens and thus male), or carpellate or pistillate (having only functional carpels and thus female). If separate staminate and carpellate flowers are always found on the same plant, the species is described as monoecious . If separate staminate and carpellate flowers are always found on different plants,
646-475: The carpels mature first). Monoecious species, with unisexual flowers on the same plant, may produce male and female flowers at different times. Dioecy, the condition of having unisexual flowers on different plants, necessarily results in outcrossing, and probably evolved for this purpose. However, "dioecy has proven difficult to explain simply as an outbreeding mechanism in plants that lack self-incompatibility". Resource-allocation constraints may be important in
684-413: The entire structure, including the fused styles and stigmas may be called a pistil . The lower part of the pistil, where the ovules are produced, is called the ovary . It may be divided into chambers ( locules ) corresponding to the separate carpels. A perfect flower has both stamens and carpels, and is described as "bisexual" or "hermaphroditic". A unisexual flower is one in which either the stamens or
722-448: The evolution of dioecy, for example, with wind-pollination, separate male flowers arranged in a catkin that vibrates in the wind may provide better pollen dispersal. In climbing plants, rapid upward growth may be essential, and resource allocation to fruit production may be incompatible with rapid growth, thus giving an advantage to delayed production of female flowers. Dioecy has evolved separately in many different lineages, and monoecy in
760-532: The fact that birds and other small animals spread the seeds over large areas, makes the plants very hard to get rid of. It grows best in moist woodlands with a soil pH between 5 and 6. The seeds have the greatest chance of germinating after being exposed to a freeze. Besides their berries providing an important food for birds and other animals during the winter, greenbrier plants also provide shelter for many other animals. The thorny thickets can effectively protect small animals from larger predators who cannot enter
798-492: The figure, has a calyx of outer sepals and a corolla of inner petals and both male and female sex organs . The sepals and petals together form the perianth . Next inwards there are numerous stamens , which produce pollen grains, each containing a microscopic male gametophyte. Stamens may be called the "male" parts of a flower and collectively form the androecium. Finally in the middle there are carpels , which at maturity contain one or more ovules , and within each ovule
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#1732855599517836-421: The gametophyte, produces gametes, eggs and/or sperm . A gametophyte can be monoicous (bisexual), producing both eggs and sperm, or dioicous (unisexual), either female (producing eggs) or male (producing sperm). In the bryophytes ( liverworts , mosses , and hornworts ), the sexual gametophyte is the dominant generation. In ferns and seed plants (including cycads , conifers , flowering plants , etc.)
874-473: The male flowers of spurges ( Euphorbia ) which consist of a single stamen. A species such as Fraxinus excelsior , the common ash of Europe, demonstrates one possible kind of variation. Ash flowers are wind-pollinated and lack petals and sepals. Structurally, the flowers may be bisexual, consisting of two stamens and an ovary, or may be male (staminate), lacking a functional ovary, or female (carpellate), lacking functional stamens. Different forms may occur on
912-406: The masking of deleterious recessive mutations. The primary mechanism used by flowering plants to ensure outcrossing involves a genetic mechanism known as self-incompatibility . Various aspects of floral morphology promote allogamy. In plants with bisexual flowers, the anthers and carpels may mature at different times, plants being protandrous (with the anthers maturing first) or protogynous (with
950-526: The peculiar and sometimes flightless genus Thyrocopa . But particularly fond of greenbriers are certain Nymphalidae caterpillars, for example those of: An extract from the roots of some species – most significantly Jamaican sarsaparilla ( S. ornata ) – is used to make the sarsaparilla drink and other root beers , as well as herbal drinks like the popular Baba Roots from Jamaica . Two species, S. domingensis and S. havanensis , are used in
988-495: The prickly tangle. Deer and other herbivorous mammals will eat the foliage, as will some invertebrates such as Lepidoptera ( butterflies and moths ), which also often drink nectar from the flowers. Beetles too are known to consume leaves. Among the Lepidoptera utilizing Smilax are Hesperiidae like the water snow flat ( Tagiades litigiosa ), Pieridae like the small grass yellow ( Eurema smilax ), or moths like
1026-420: The protective wall of a pollen grain. The sporophyte of a flowering plant is often described using sexual terms (e.g. "female" or "male") based on the sexuality of the gametophyte it gives rise to . For example, a sporophyte that produces spores that give rise only to male gametophytes may be described as "male", even though the sporophyte itself is asexual, producing only spores. Similarly, flowers produced by
1064-792: The rather ambiguous name carrion flowers . Greenbriers get their scientific name from the Greek myth of Crocus and the nymph Smilax . Though this myth has numerous forms, it always centers around the unfulfilled and tragic love of a mortal man who is turned into a flower , and a woodland nymph who is transformed into a brambly vine. On their own, Smilax plants will grow as shrubs, forming dense impenetrable thickets. They will also grow over trees and other plants up to 10 m high, their hooked thorns allowing them to hang onto and scramble over branches. The genus includes both deciduous and evergreen species. The leaves are heart shaped and vary from 4–30 cm long in different species. Greenbrier
1102-417: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Greenbriar . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greenbriar&oldid=1045604745 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
1140-519: The same tree, or on different trees. The Asteraceae (sunflower family), with close to 22,000 species worldwide, have highly modified inflorescences made up of flowers (florets) collected together into tightly packed heads. Heads may have florets of one sexual morphology – all bisexual, all carpellate or all staminate (when they are called homogamous ), or may have mixtures of two or more sexual forms (heterogamous). Thus goatsbeards ( Tragopogon species) have heads of bisexual florets, like other members of
1178-724: The smooth herbaceous greenbrier ( S. herbacea ). Section Heterosmilax represents a previous separate genus that was found to be embedded within Smilax, and was reduced to a section within it. The genus has a pantropical distribution, extending into adjacent temperate zones to north and south. 29 species are recognized in Central America and the Caribbean, while there are 20 species in North America north of Mexico . In China , there are 80 species (39 of which are endemic ). The berry
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1216-469: The species is described as dioecious . A 1995 study found that about 6% of angiosperm species are dioecious, and that 7% of genera contain some dioecious species. Members of the birch family ( Betulaceae ) are examples of monoecious plants with unisexual flowers. A mature alder tree ( Alnus species) produces long catkins containing only male flowers, each with four stamens and a minute perianth, and separate stalked groups of female flowers, each without
1254-489: The sporophyte is the dominant generation; the obvious visible plant, whether a small herb or a large tree, is the sporophyte, and the gametophyte is very small. In bryophytes and ferns, the gametophytes are independent, free-living plants, while in seed plants, each female megagametophyte, and the megaspore that gives rise to it, is hidden within the sporophyte and is entirely dependent on it for nutrition. Each male gametophyte typically consists of two to four cells enclosed within
1292-401: The sporophyte may be described as "unisexual" or "bisexual", meaning that they give rise to either one sex of gametophyte or both sexes of the gametophyte. The flower is the characteristic structure concerned with sexual reproduction in flowering plants (angiosperms). Flowers vary enormously in their structure (morphology). A perfect flower, like that of Ranunculus glaberrimus shown in
1330-409: The tribe Cichorieae, whereas marigolds ( Calendula species) generally have heads with the outer florets bisexual and the inner florets staminate (male). Like Amborella , some plants undergo sex-switching. For example, Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit) expresses sexual differences at different stages of growth: smaller plants produce all or mostly male flowers; as plants grow larger over
1368-477: The world. Common names include catbriers , greenbriers , prickly-ivys and smilaxes . Sarsaparilla (also zarzaparrilla, sarsparilla) is a name used specifically for the Neotropical S. ornata as well as a catch-all term in particular for American species. Occasionally, the non-woody species such as the smooth herbaceous greenbrier ( S. herbacea ) are separated as genus Nemexia ; they are commonly known by
1406-928: The year and as plants bloom later in the growing season they produce more female flowers. The complexity of the morphology of flowers and its variation within populations has led to a rich terminology. Outcrossing , cross-fertilization or allogamy, in which offspring are formed by the fusion of the gametes of two different plants, is the most common mode of reproduction among higher plants . About 55% of higher plant species reproduce in this way. An additional 7% are partially cross-fertilizing and partially self-fertilizing (autogamy). About 15% produce gametes but are principally self-fertilizing with significant out-crossing lacking. Only about 8% of higher plant species reproduce exclusively by non-sexual means. These include plants that reproduce vegetatively by runners or bulbils, or which produce seeds without embryo fertilization ( apomixis ). The selective advantage of outcrossing appears to be
1444-409: The years the male flowers are replaced by more female flowers on the same plant. Arisaema triphyllum thus covers a multitude of sexual conditions in its lifetime: nonsexual juvenile plants, young plants that are all male, larger plants with a mix of both male and female flowers, and large plants that have mostly female flowers. Other plant populations have plants that produce more male flowers early in
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